Brainastasia
by StarShineDC
Summary: Pinky & Brain attempt to reunite the Princess Anastasia with her grandmother in Paris as part of their world domination ploy, but can they handle all the montage sequences and cutscenes that come along with this task? Not to mention the...singing
1. Chapter 1

They didn't live in the kitchen. Bigger mice than them (and not to mention rats) lived in the kitchen. So The Brain had overruled his companion's plea and had moved them up to the Czar's former private chambers. If he felt a bit bad living in a dead man's quarters, he comforted himself with the fact that he'd been gone ten years and Pinky had no idea. His only _real_ qualm about living in the old Russian palace was the temperature and the fact that he wasn't living there as a ruler.

Stupid humans and their revolutions. No one would try and overthrow him when _he_ was ruling the world. "Pinky!" he called, adjusting the scarf around his neck and catching sight of his friend peering out of the window. "Get away from there before you fall and come here!"

Paws pressed against the glass, Pinky found he had to keep rubbing away the mist his breath left behind in order to see. Doodling a smiley face in the cloud, he mimicked the expression when he was called. His own scarf smacked him in the face as Pinky whipped his head around to face the smaller mouse. "It's all pretty and snowy outside, Brain! _Narf! _ Can we make snow angels?"

"Only if I suffer sudden and irreversible brain damage," the large-headed mouse muttered, beckoning his sidekick over. "Now come, Pinky, so I can explain tonight's plan!"

Pinky left his perch on the window, eagerly dashing over to Brain's side. "What're we going to do tonight?" he asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Simple, Pinky. Tonight, we will be taking over the railway station in nearby St. Petersburg!" His eyes gleamed as he gestured to the page of carefully concocted plans. "We can slip passed the soldiers with ease considering our stature and get inside the main station house, changing the requirements for leaving with a few quick jabs of a pen. Watch, Pinky." He plucked up his pencil, wrote a word in his normal handwriting and, then, beneath it dashed the same word in a swirly style that was entirely unlike his own.

"Ooooh... that's pretty, Brain!" Pinky applauded the artistic rendition on the paper. "We'll distract them with flowery words! Brilliant!"

Brain only rolled his eyes. "No, Pinky! Pay attention." He gestured from his loopy script to that of a set of travel papers they'd found the previous night. "These documents are written by the officials we need to imitate. Thats's why these handwritings are a perfect match. We'll rewrite the requirements for acquiring travel papers, making it impossible for anyone to leave or enter Russia. _Including_ the soldiers! Once they're cut off from all supplies, they'll be _begging_ for a new leader to take them over. And do you know who that leader shall be, Pinky?"

"Walt Disney?" Pinky guessed, tilting his head to the side and scratching the top of his head.

Brain gave him a bland stare before leaping up and smacking his dim-witted associate atop the head with his pencil. "Me, Pinky! They'll elect me!" He leapt from the desk, irritated. "Now come!"

"What a good idea, Brain! _Narf! _ You'll be a much better leader than Mr. Disney. Your Ds don't look like backward Gs!" He laughed, hopping off the desk in pursuit of his friend.

"Yes, and he's supposed to be an artist." Brain shook his head, clasping his hands behind his back. "As if anyone will really be remembered for creating an animated mouse," he muttered and started down the largely barren hall. The palace was off-limits to the general population, but there was still the occasional brave looter who visited in hopes of locating anything of value.

Pinky frolicked about ahead of him, playing with the dust clouds that sprung up as he skipped. There were a lot of neat knick-knacks still lying about and he wondered why the people who moved away left them behind. Perhaps they got fancy new things and didn't have room The palace was rather large, he was always finding new thingamabobs and secret rooms.

As he turned a corner, on his way to the really big stairs, his ears twitched as he heard a foreign sound. Pinky stopped in place, one foot in the air still and his arms spread out similar to the third position of ballet, one above his head and the other perpendicular to his body. It was a good listening stance.

"Poit." He waited for a moment, then identified the noise as singing. A girl singing. "Ooooh, what a lovely song!" Pinky brought his hands down quickly, clasping them to the side of his face. The action disrupted his balance however, and sent him flailing to the floor. With a laugh, he stood back up, half of him coated in a thin layer of dust. "You hear it, Brain?"

"Yes." He sighed as they neared the main staircase of the ballroom, stepping around his dust-covered friend. "It's probably just another looter." He glanced through one of the rungs, watching a redhead twirl about as though dancing with someone else. "An insane looter with illusions of grandeur."

Pinky shimmied up the banister to get a better look, propping his chin up in his hands. "She has a beautiful voice! _Troz!_ And she dances wonderfully!" He held his arms out to mimic her, holding an invisible partner, and started waltzing around, the dust steadily falling off as he danced.

"Pinky, stop dancing with yourself. You look ridiculous." And this was a waste of time; the train station was a ways off and they'd need to hitch a ride of one of the carriages since those ridiculous automobiles went too fast.

"But it's fun, Brain! You should try it-!" He cut himself off as he gasped loudly, his dance postponed as he pointed past the girl. "A puppy!" A little gray mutt sat on the landing of the staircase, in front of the giant painting of a rather large, formal family. He was watching the girl dance, head cocked to one side, and Pinky couldn't help but coo over him. "Oh, Brain! Let's go play with the puppy!" He hopped down off the banister and started running for the stairs.

"Wait, what- Pinky!" Brain went after him, scowling. "Pinky, get back here!" But Pinky was too quick to catch and giggling too much to pay attention, so he hopped down the stairs anyway and gave The Brain no choice but to follow. Until he tripped, of course, and tumbled down the stairs, ending up reaching the landing before his associate.

Deciding that the manner in which Brain got down the stairs was much more fun than simply jumping down each individual step, Pinky flopped down after him, somersaulting to the landing while laughing all the way. "Good idea, Brain! Fun-fun silly-willy!" He snorted, holding his sides in an attempt to contain his glee. Then he remembered the puppy. "Puppy!" Pinky cried, skipping over to the the little dog to give him a hug.

"Pinky, when I hurt less, remind me to hurt you more," Brain grumbled, standing dizzily. The puppy was down in front, rump in the air, and what existed of its tail wagged in thorough delight as Pinky patted it. Brain just sighed. Pinky could play with all the mutts he wanted _after_ they took over the world. He marched to his accomplice and grabbed his ear to tug him away. "Come, Pinky. There's no time for this foolishness."

"But Brain!" Pinky whined, wincing as his ear was yanked, arms reaching towards the gray puppy. "Look at his face! _Zort!_ It's so cute!" As he was being dragged away, there was a shout from across the ballroom, echoing in the large hall. Pinky hadn't even noticed the girl finished her song and dance.

"Hey! What're you doing here?" It was a man's voice. When Pinky looked over, he was surprised to see _two_ men looming over the banister shouting at the girl.

"Egad, Brain!" He pointed at them, forgetting about the puppy for a moment. "People in our house again!"

"So I see." He stopped pulling Pinky along, but hid behind the banister to avoid being seen while the insane dancing girl ran in their direction. The puppy Pinky had been fawning over began to bark and run in circles and Brain just narrowed his eyes. All this distraction was putting them very far behind schedule.

The younger of the two men finally caught up to the girl, getting her to stop. "Now how did you get in h... here...?" He paused, staring at her dazedly. Brain looked from him to her and supposed she was pretty enough, but not really worth gaping at.

"This is irritating," he muttered.

Pinky poked his head out from around the banister to get a better look. He too was intrigued by the way the young man just stared at the girl. His gaze was drawn to her, almost distracted by the wiggling puppy she carried, but something else caught his eye. "Zounds, Brain! She looks just like the little girl in the picture! Only bigger and not flat!" He exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Sure enough, the same vibrant red hair curled atop both the image and the young woman and both had bright blue eyes. The only thing setting them apart was the fact that the little girl looked more like a porcelain doll while the older one looked like Raggedy-Anne in her too big dress and boots.

Brain grabbed his snout, dragging him down. "Quiet, Pinky! Or they'll..." But he released Pinky abruptly as the words struck home and studied the girl and the portrait himself. It _was_ a match. She had several of the genetic markings displayed by the two adults in the portrait. Anastasia. Wasn't there a substantial reward for returning Anastasia to her grandmother in Paris? He'd heard of it, of course, as it was impossible to live anywhere near St. Petersburg and not know, but...

The financial gain of the reward would fund several of his plans and the recognition of locating Anastasia would give him even more grounds to implement them. His eyes gleamed, a new plan forming in his mind, even as the two male humans seemed to come to the same conclusions.

He watched the younger one go up and make a fool of himself, but his ears perked when the girl turned towards the men. "I'd like to go to Paris."

"Yes!" It would be _easy_! Previous plans forgotten, Brain dragged Pinky down again. "Pinky! Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"I think so, Brain," Pinky replied while nodding, "But why do they call it the 'City of Love'?"

"No, Pinky." The smaller mouse flicked his nose, making it wobble. "We're going to take this girl to Paris and pass her off as the Grand Duchess Anastasia!"

"Egad, Brain! Brilliant!" He praised, clasping his hands together before pausing. "Wait. Who's that, Brain?"

Brain tugged his ears in frustration, letting them go with a _snap_. "The little girl in the picture, Pinky! We'll take this girl, this... Anya person to her grandmother in Paris and take the reward. She'll be so grateful for it that she'll make us members of her imperial court!" He rubbed his hands together greedily, listening only vaguely as the girl revealed that she had no memories before being found wandering the streets when she was eight.

Pinky's eyes grew as wide as saucers, a huge smile spreading across his face. "Oh, how lovely, Brain! We're going to help her find her family? _Narf! _ They'll be so happy!" He hugged himself as he swayed from side to side, then looked over towards the three humans and the puppy. "Poit. Umm... is it part of the plan that those two fellas take her away?" Pinky pointed to the trio, arm in arm heading down the hall to look at another portrait.

"Drat! Quickly, Pinky, follow them!" Brain climbed up the banister since running along the railing would be quicker than hiking up the stairs after them and paid more attention to their conversation. They were trying to convince the girl that she was the Grand Duchess and it quickly became obvious that they shared Brain's plan.

"All I know is that I've seen thousands of girls all over the country and not _one_ of them looks as much like the Grand Duchess as you. I mean, look at the portrait!" He gestured and the girl shook her head.

"I thought you were crazy from the beginning," she began, poking the younger man in the chest, "but now I think you are _both_ mad!"

While they continued in their efforts, Brain stood at the top of the railing and began to ponder just how they'd get this stubborn creature to go along with the ploy. If the men couldn't, perhaps he and Pinky could. But if the men _did_ manage it, they'd have to strike up a deal of some sort. Even partial credit should be worthy of certain acclaim.

"After all, the name Anastasia means that she will rise again!" the older, chubbier man was saying while Dimitri made a small fuss behind them before returning.

"Really wish we could help, but the third ticket _is_ for the Grand Duchess Anastasia." He led the other man away, threw up an arm in farewell. "Good luck!"

Brain smiled slightly when they swept by and started down the stairs. They were giving up so easily, but the idea had been planted in Anya's mind. It would surely blossom fully soon enough.

Pinky watched them go with a slight frown. "But Brain, I thought they wanted to help the Grand Donut Appalachia too. Where are they going?" If all five of them were looking, and the puppy, then surely they'd find her family faster.

As she stared at the portrait in front of her, Pinky's heart went out to her. It must be terrible not to know where your family is. He knew he'd be awfully sad if he didn't know where Brain was, it was bad enough when the taller mouse had gotten lost in the big palace for almost fifteen whole minutes! If he thought that was bad, he couldn't imagine not knowing where your family was for _years_. When she reached out towards the painting, her fingers brushing against the canvas, Pinky tugged on Brain's arm.

"We have to help her, Brain! _Zort!_ She's all lonely and alone!" he insisted.

"Pinky, stop it. We'll help her." And help themselves in the process. "Just be patient."

Sure enough, it was only another second before she ran to the railing. "Dimitri!" she called, leaning over it. The puppy in her arms was close enough to lick Pinky and did so. "Dimitri, wait!"

Brain gave a small smile even while he stepped away from the slobbered-on mouse at his side. On the ballroom floor, the younger man turned, feigning surprise. "Did you call me?"

Pinky giggled and hugged the puppy's wet nose. "Aww, Brain! He's giving me kisses!" But as Anya moved away to walk down the stairs towards the two men, he was forced to let go. "Poit..." More determined now than ever to help the girl and play with the puppy, he slid down the banister towards the floor. It was much faster than walking and much more fun too.

"If I don't remember who I am," The redhaired girl was explaining as she descended, "Then who's to say I'm not a princess or a duchess or _whatever_ she is, right?"

"Go on," Dimitri urged and Brain went after his wayward friend.

"Pinky, wait! We don't want to be seen yet!" Not until after Anya had finished agreeing to go.

Well, he'd already started sliding, he couldn't very well stop now. Pinky put his hands out and came to an abrupt halt once he got to the end, but stayed where he was until Brain gave the okay. Luckily, no one save for the puppy noticed him, and his happy barks went ignored by the humans who were more interested in the girl's decision.

"Yeah, and if I'm not Anastasia, then the empress will certainly know right away and it's all just and honest mistake." Anya decided, folding her arms across her chest and nodding firmly.

"Sounds plausible," Dimitri offered and Vlad went to further encourage Anya's decision.

Brain began very carefully descending the railing. He had no intention of sliding down like a fool, but his foot slipped and he slid anyway, crashing into Pinky and sending them both careening through the air and right into Dimitri.

"_Narf!_" Pinky yelped, too distracted by waving at the puppy, called Pooka apparently, to notice Brain come crashing into him. "Oof! Egad!" He managed to exclaim before the two mice fell to the floor, having startled Dimitri enough to back away once they'd made contact. With a shake of his head to get his bearings, he looked up to see all three humans and Pooka staring down at them both. "Hi!" Pinky chirped, waving at them all. Pooka nosed him playfully, delighting the little mouse.

"Well, that was certainly unexpected." Vlad commented lightly as he and Anya moved down the steps closer to them. "And just who might you be?"

Brain rubbed his brow, glaring at Pinky as if the unexpected slip had been his fault. "It was unexpected for all of us," he muttered and got to his feet, brushing away dust from his fur. "I am The Brain and this..." He gestured to Pinky, who was now getting licked by the puppy. He sighed. "That's Pinky."

"_Troz!_ He likes me, Brain!" Pinky laughed, falling over onto his back.

"Pooka!" Anya went to scoop him up, cradling the wiggling puppy close. "He gets excited easily." She explained, watching the mouse get to his feet and wipe at the puppy drool.

Though, it didn't seem to help any. "That's okay! Poit. I don't mind!"

Expression disgruntled - Pinky would certainly need a bath now - Brain looked up at Dimitri, who frowned right back at him. He'd assumed, at first, that the two were mice. But now that they were both talking and wearing scarves, it became apparent that they were just two rather short, hairy men. And they had probably overheard everything. "So..."

"We have our own tickets," Brain announced, though they wouldn't until he could forge travel papers. His new handwriting would come in handy, after all. "And we would love to help reunite miss Anya with her family. Wouldn't we, Pinky?"

"Oh, yes!" He bounced on the balls of his feet, hands clasped together under his chin. "Family is very important!"

His declaration made Anya smile, while Vlad chanced a wary glance to Dimitri, concern for the younger man's reaction evident. Especially in the presence of the girl in question.

Dimitri dropped down to get closer to Brain's level, which immediately pleased the megalomaniac. But like recognized like, after all, even if Dimitri's greed ended at money. "What do you want?" he asked quietly and Brain glanced over to make sure Pinky was distracted talking to the young girl before replying. He'd changed his mind about the money, wanting the power more. Money would come with a provided station.

"We want the plan to succeed," he replied honestly, though Dimitri couldn't possibly know what all The Brain was referring to. "You can keep the money as long as you remember to give me half the credit for finding her."

The young man was suspicious, but offered his hand anyway. As long as he and Vlad got the money, he didn't care what these two did. "Fine."

Brain shook, barely containing a maniacal sort of glee. They were on their way to taking over the world! "So. To Paris."

Anya grinned, holding out her puppy so he could be eye level with her. "Pooka, we're going to Paris!"

"Hooray!" Pinky cheered, throwing his arms in the air and spinning around. "I've always wanted to see the Great Wall of China!"

Brain bopped him between the ears while Dimitri began an argument with Anya over whether or not the dog was coming along. While they bickered, The Brain wondered if this was going to be worth the trip...

* * *

Stolen and mildly edited from skimmingsurfaces's DA account (cutcrescentheart):

Another collab between the fabulous starshinedc and myself! Pinky and the Brain take on Anastasia! This was a lot of fun and refreshing for us to play with.  
Hope you enjoy!

* * *

From me: OMG. I have been so neglectful of this fic D:

It's been finished for ages, you guys. Ages and ages. But I'm lazy as hell, it seems. So it's up now! Next ch will be up when I get home from the ballgame XD


	2. Chapter 2

Guh. I'm so internet dead. This whole thing is finished, but I keep forgetting to put the chapters up!

* * *

The dog got to go after all, much to Pinky's delight. By the time night had fallen, they were all packed up and on a train headed to Paris. They'd be there very soon and Brain appreciated being able to travel in style. He adjusted the jacket he'd donned for the trip - one couldn't very well meet a dowager empress in only a scarf and fingerless gloves, after all, and looked to his companion while the humans stowed baggage away. "This is it, Pinky. We're on our way to greatness!"

"Poit. I thought we were on our way to Paris." Pinky spun his finger in his ear as he pondered this, sitting atop Pooka's head. The little dog barked cheerfully from his perch on one of the train's seats, so Pinky reached over to scratch behind his ear.

Anya sat across from him, both granted window seats, while Vlad was next to Pooka. Dimitri had stepped out to take care of something, which was good because he and Miss Anya didn't appear to be getting along all that well. Ever since the fight over whether or not the puppy could come with them, they'd been fighting about almost everything.

Brain glared at him, but made no attempt at bopping. The mutt didn't seem to approve of that. "While technically true, old friend, there are more than just literal destinations." He studied Anya's slouched position and just barely resisted the urge to sigh. They were never going to convince anyone that this ragamuffin was a princess, but neither human had shown anyone interest as of yet in teaching her anything.

And, even more irritating, none of them seemed to pay _him_ any special attention. Petulant humans should be hanging on his _every word_! He sat back against the seat, unconsciously mimicking Anya's slouch, and his scowl looked more like a pout. Even Pinky was paying more attention to the dog, and that bothered him more than he was willing to admit.

Pinky and Pooka's tails wagged in tandem, the mouse burying his laughs in the puppy's fur. It was very soft and he liked the way it tickled his nose. He looked over at Brain, to see if he wanted to sit on the puppy too, and noticed his scowl. Tilting his head to the side, he wondered what The Brain could possibly be grumpy about. The plan was going swimmingly and they were riding on a really big choo choo train! How much more fun could it get?

"Brain, why the scowly-scrunchy face? Are there monkeys in your ears again?" He asked sliding down Pooka's side to be level with Brain on the seat.

The megalomaniac eyed his associate irritably, his expression remaining largely unchanged besides. "No, Pinky, there are not now nor have there ever been _monkeys_ in my ears."

Leaning over him, Pinky poked at his jowls. "Then why are you so cranky, Mr. Fussy-Pants? We're on a choo choo! _Narf!_ Want to look out the window with me?"

Brain swatted at his hands, but his glare had lost some of its ferocity. "I suppose," he agreed. "This will be the last time we see Russia before I _own_ it, after all." The pout gone from his scowl, Brain got to his feet and started up as if it had been his idea to look out the window all along. "Come, Pinky."

Satisfied that he'd successfully cheered up his friend, Pinky climbed back atop Pooka's back and politely asked if the puppy could lift him up to it. While he obliged, he did so enthusiastically, accidentally tossing Pinky off his head to land on the little window sill in a heap. His delighted laugh sufficiently proved that no damage had been done, he simply rolled over to sit up straight, grabbing onto his toes and rocking as he looked outside.

"Oh, I wish we could play in the snow, Brain!" He lamented, watching the scenery fly past.

He heard Dimitri return, the young man placed a suitcase overhead before going to sit where he and Brain had been previously and Pooka still remained. The mutt growled and let his disapproval be heard, forcing him to sit beside Anya. Ooooh, they were probably going to start fighting again. And Anya would probably win again.

Brain rubbed an elbow against the frosted glass, giving the two of them a bit of a better view. He stood at Pinky's side, giving his head an absent pat. "You played in the snow enough before we left the palace." His ear twitched towards the two bickering humans, pleased to hear Dimitri giving her some sort of instruction on how to behave properly. It was a shame that the woman was so pigheaded.

"She certainly has a mind of her own," Vlad interjected, clearly amused.

"Yeah," Dimitri agreed, "I hate that in a woman." Brain privately agreed.

"Well, wouldn't it be bad if she had someone else's mind? Poit." Pinky inquired, screwing his eyes up as he tried to wrap his head around it. "Then they'd be missing their mind and have to take somebody else's. Egad! What if none of our minds are really our minds?"

Pink eyes rolled. "Pinky, considering that you lack a mind entirely, I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about."

"Phew!" He wiped at his brow, then leaned back on his arms to smile at Brain, his legs dangling off the edge of the window sill. "That's a relief! _Troz!_" Movement by Vlad caught his eye, he noticed him pull out a slip of paper and make a tally mark. Pinky giggled to himself, well aware of the score he'd been keeping of their arguments. Yep, Anya was still winning.

-8-8-

After a trip with Vlad to the dining car, The Brain had decided that he rather enjoyed traveling by train. They had a rather excellent cheese selection, so he was pleasantly full as he and Pinky rode the man's shoulder back to their car. His friend had overindulged, of course, his belly visibly rounder than it had been before.

"I told you not to have that last platter by yourself, Pinky."

With a small groan, Pinky's head lolled to one side as he smiled sheepishly at him. "But, Brain, it was so yummy! _Narf! _ I've never seen so much tasty food all in one place!" He hiccuped, covering his mouth as he stifled a giggle that was quick to follow. The movement made him wince however, his stomach strained. "Ow."

Brain reached over, gave his bulging gut a pat. "This is why you should always listen to me, Pinky. You only end up hurting yourself," he commented, very easily ignoring the fact that some of his directions inevitably led to one or both of them experiencing some sort of physical pain.

Pooka, carried easily by the large man, nudged his way up Vlad's chest and nosed Pinky, giving an upset whine over how pained he seemed. Brain left his hand on Pinky's stomach, frowning at the mutt.

Pinky rubbed the puppy's nose with one hand, the other straying to rest atop Brain's absently. "Oh, it's alright, Pooka. I'll be okay by breakfast! _Troz!_" He reassured brightly.

As they approached their car, Anya's frustrated voice could be heard. When Vlad opened to door for them to enter, they were immediately greeted with the displeased redhead pointing at Dimitri's back. "Thank goodness you're here. Please remove him from my sight!"

Vlad's entire body seemed to bounce with his indignation, Brain involuntarily curling his fingers into Pinky's fur to keep from bouncing right off the man's shoulder. "What have you done to her?" he demanded.

"Me?" Dimitri spun around, gestured at the girl. "It's _her_!"

Anya gave an odd, disbelieving outcry before storming out of the compartment. "Oh, no." Vlad held the puppy out, his smile betraying his amusement. "An unspoken attraction!"

"Attraction? To that skinny little brat- have you lost your mind?" he demanded and moved around Vlad to leave right after the girl.

Tired of the jostling, Brain started to slide down Vlad's coat. "Come, Pinky."

"Ooooh...!" Pinky kept his eyes on the sliding compartment door as he slid down, at a much slower pace than Brain. "I think he likes her, Brain! He got all grumpy-growly, just like you! _Zort!_"

"What on earth does being, as you so inanely put it, 'grumpy-growly' have to do with an attraction?" Brain demanded, making the leap easily from coat to seat. He brushed off his own jacket, looking back at his friend just in case the simple-minded fool needed help.

Lacking grace entirely, Pinky flopped onto the seat, bouncing a little due to his still full belly. "Naaarf." He supposed there was such a thing as 'too much cheese' after all. After a shake of his head to get his bearings, he looked up at Brain. "Ummm..." How to put it in words? "Poit." He pushed himself up into a sitting position as he continued to think about it. "Well, we're an attraction, right Brain?"

Brain went entirely still, wide pink eyes latching onto his companion and staying there. "I- We're-" He gaped a moment, attempting to articulate a response, but couldn't get anything out. He finally smacked himself in the forehead. "Pinky, I need to finish writing out our travel papers. Go... play with the mutt."

"'Kay!" He got to his feet, wobbling a bit before he waddled over to curl up with Pooka, who'd been placed on their seat once more. "We'll play once my tummy stops making the gurgly noises, okay Pooka?" The pup barked happily in agreement, giving him a long lick up his front.

The large-headed mouse strode away quickly, rubbing a fist over the heart that seemed to have doubled its rhythm. They were an attraction. The idea was... It was preposterous, ridiculous, insane - only something that came from Pinky's mind could be all three. He plucked two thin red booklets from a bag that seemed entirely too small to carry the things and whisked a quill out from the same with a bottle of blue ink. But he couldn't help but wonder as he worked just what Pinky thought an attraction entailed and why he would think the word applied to the pair of them...

-8-8-

They had to be quiet, since Miss Anya was sleeping right below them, but Pinky was having an awfully hard time containing his mirth. He and Pooka were engaged in a riveting game of "I spy". It really was a close match, and so far the mutt was winning. Still, the mouse was determined to make a comeback, although he couldn't help but wonder if one was allowed to be an underdog when their opponent was in fact a dog and they were not. The pain in between his eyes that followed this train of thought gave him cause to forget about it for now, instead trying really hard to find something that wasn't white. He'd spied that color five times already.

Brain glanced their way, shaking his head. He'd climbed up the suitcases beside Dimitri, but attempts at conversation had largely fallen flat. The human had plenty of stories to tell about the ins and outs of St. Petersburg's black market, but when his stories generally led to some pun or humorous climax, The Brain just had to force a small chuckle.

He was a bore, the information he was sharing useless considering the fact that he was on the cusp of world domination. The only thing the megalomaniac could use it all for was in order to shut the market down and regulate it. And all of his attempts at frivolity fell flat since the man was too simple-minded to grasp the humor in a good Entscheidungsproblem algorithm.

Vlad's entrance was a welcome distraction, though his words were anything but. "This is what I hate about this government," he began, holding up his blue travel papers. "Everything's in _red_."

"Red?" the two replied in unison, Brain glancing at his forgeries in horror. No wonder the papers he and Pinky had discovered had been discarded in the snow; they were _useless_. While Vlad suggested a move to the baggage card in order to avoid the guards, Brain was scrambling from the suitcases to stuff the useless forgeries in his incredibly small bag. _Red_.

"Red? No, I don't spy anything red." Pinky tapped his chin, still staring out the window and unaware of the frantic scrambling behind him. "I spy, with my little eye, something thaaaaat's..." Pooka began to bark when he'd spotted it as well. "No fair, Pooka! I didn't even get to spy it yet!" Pinky placed his hands on his hips in indignation. "I spy something green!" But the green glow that floated up from beneath the window suddenly multiplied. "Poit. A lot of green!"

Blue eyes blinked in surprise as the puppy continued to yap threateningly at the winged creatures outside. Green bat thingies were flying all about. "Brain, come look at these!" Pinky waved his friend over, not tearing his eyes away from the window. "There's green bat thingies all swooshing around!"

"Stop it, Pinky, there isn't any time for your foolishness!" He snatched up his scarf, winding it around his neck, and searched out Pinky's as well. "Now come along. We're leaving."

The green creatures intrigued him, that is, until one popped up right outside the window and hissed at them. Pinky yelped, flying off the window sill as Pooka also jumped away, whining piteously. "Brain! Brain, it's a scary green thing!" He cried, clinging to him as he ducked his head behind his shoulder.

"Pinky!" Brain shook the mouse off, looping the scarf around his neck and using it to jerk Pinky down so that they were eye-to-eye. The fear he saw gave him momentary pause - Pinky rarely imagined things that genuinely frightened him - but getting caught by the guards was much more important that the insanity his associate claimed to see. "We don't have time for this. The scary green thing can't get you," he promised and finished wrapping the scarf about Pinky's neck. "Now come along."

When Dimitri fell onto the seat beside them, hands over his nose, Brain dragged Pinky into the young man's pocket.

If Brain said they couldn't get him, then he had nothing to worry to about. Pinky clambered into the pocket along after Brain, taking notice of the way Anya had socked Dimitri in the nose right before he fell onto the seat.

At first she seemed to feel bad. "Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you were someone el- Oh, it's you. Well, that's okay then." She finished with a shrug, the apology long gone.

But Pinky knew what _that _meant. "I think she likes him too, Brain!" He poked his head out of the pocket to see Anya get dragged from the seat and out the compartment as they moved down the hall.

"Men are such babies," she muttered, shrugging into her coat.

Brain glowered at her and then at Pinky. "How does a physical strike constitute liking someone?"

"You hit me all the time!" He laughed to himself as if it were a rather funny joke.

Grip tightening on the edge of the pocket, Brain's glower melted into wide-eyed shock. "That... Well... Hm." His heartrate had doubled once more; his tongue was tied. What on earth could Pinky be thinking? Just what did he consider the nature of their relationship to be?

"Narf! Poit! Zort!" Pinky played along with the funny, stuttery sounds Brain was making. His tail swished from side to side, bumping into Brain's crooked one repetitively.

There wasn't much room for him to escape considering their current location, so the baffled genius could only suffer through each brush against the sensitive appendage in silence. He did, however, move the bag to his other hand, creating at least some space between them until they arrived at the freezing cold baggage car and he could climb out.

He ignored Dimitri's pathetic attempt at explaining their new locale to Anya and slid down to the floor. If they weren't caught by the guards, they'd freeze before they ever reached Paris. He dropped the bag to tighten his scarf.

Pinky hopped down beside him, surprised by the chill of their environment. "Are we in the refrigerator train now?" He asked, looking about. There were lots of fun boxes to play with, maybe he and Pooka could start a game of hide and seek! As he thought of the dog, his barking caught his attention and he glanced over just in time to see the green glow beneath the door. He gasped, tugging on Brain and pointing at the door, but the light was gone already. A sudden lurch prevented him from explaining, and had Brain latching onto Pinky in turn.

"What was that?" Dimitri exclaimed as they were jostled about.

"I don't know!" Vlad exclaimed, managing to get to his feet. He looked through the hole where the door had once been and gestured. "But there goes the dining car!"

"Oh, no!" Pinky wailed. "All the cheese!" He would've continued lamenting this tragedy, but Pooka was still barking, facing the engine. "Brain! Brain, it was the green thingies!" Pinky realized, for only something as scary and mean as them would do something as horrible as take away all the cheese.

"Green things?" Brain asked, but the suitcases that had been trapping Dimitri and Anya bounced onto them, leaving the two mice flat against the ground while Vlad called out something about their engine. "Ow," Brain muttered, popping back to normal.

There was no laugh that normally accompanied a severe bop when Pinky popped up as well. He wobbled for a minute, then dashed over to where Pooka was barking still. Vlad seemed to have the same idea, although he could actually see out the little window while the mouse just peered under the crack in the door.

"Uh, Dimitri!" Vlad hollered over to the two struggling to regain their bearings. "I think someone has flambayed our engine!"

"Well, that doesn't sound very nice of them." Pinky placed his hands on his hips, as he straightened up.

Dimitri pushed opened the door and Brain, who'd scrambled after Pinky, grabbed his friend's wrist to drag him away. There were sparks bursting from the engine, shooting high enough to sail over the coal cart and were landing much too close to the baggage car. "Careful, Pinky."

"Something's wrong," Dimitri was saying, pulling off his coat and tossing it at Anya before making a leap to the ladder. "Wait here. I'll... check it out."

"Oooh! Fireworks!" Pinky clapped with delight as the man disappeared over the top of the train. "Narf!"

Anya peered over the edge nervously, watching the tracks beneath them zoom past. The train shuddered a little along the rickety rail line. "We're going way too fast!"

Dimitri landed before them, causing three of them to back up a step. Pooka just gave a yip and Pinky beamed. "No one's driving this train!" the young man shouted, striding into the car. "We're gonna have to jump!"

Brain's ears dropped, eyes going wide. "Jump...?" With the train going at its current speed, a leap from it could be detrimental if even one of them landed incorrectly.

Anya echoed Brain's sentiment as she followed Dimitri to the sliding door. The pair peered over the ledge, the train just happening to be making it's way along a bridge. The drop down would be far too perilous for any of them, if the fall didn't kill them then the ice at the bottom would surely give way to the frigid river below. "After you!" Anya waved for Dimitri to go ahead and make the jump, sarcasm heavy in her voice despite the severity of their predicament.

Pooka and Pinky both leaned over to look as well, the puppy barking as another green creature flit beneath their car. "I see it!" Pinky declared, trying to look under the train to see where the green creature had gone. "Poit!"

"Pinky, stop that!" Brain got a hold of Pinky's scarf, using it to drag the mouse away from the ledge even as Pooka scrambled back.

"Fine," Dimitri was saying. "Then we'll uncouple the cars." He jumped up and went to the far side of the train car. He got to to the middle, balancing precariously over the steel that held their compartment to the engine. "C'mon! I need a wrench, an axe - anything!"

While Vlad passed him a hammer from the toolbox he'd found, Brain began to search for something to help. Judging from the sounds the hammer was making, it wouldn't be an easy separation.

"It's the glowing green bat thingies, Brain! They don't want us to leave!" Pinky attempted to explain, it made sense after all. All the bad things happened after every time he saw one of them.

Pooka started barking, hopping up onto a wooden crate near Anya. His stubby tail wagged as he peered over the edge. Pinky went over to investigate, as did the girl, although he had to rely on her to open it. When she finally pried off the lid, she couldn't help the inspired smile, and the little mouse also got excited as he climbed up to look inside.

"More fireworks! Hoorah!" He cheered, as Anya searched for a way to light the stick of dynamite.

Brain located the matches first, offering one. "Don't light it until-" She lit the stick of dynamite right where she stood in the middle of the car and Brain smacked his forehead. She was just as bad as Pinky... Speaking of which - "Pinky, don't _follow_ her!" The shorter mouse scrambled after his friend, latching onto him just as they reached the end of the car.

"C'mon! There's gotta be something in there that's better than this!" Anya passed Dimitri the stick, expression smug, and he blinked at it. "That'll work."

He jammed the stick of dynamite in between the chains holding the two cars together. The spark steadily growing closer to it's destination. Dimitri hurried everyone to the back of the car, ducking down behind some more crates.

"What do they teach in those orphanages?" He muttered, while Pinky mimicked the way he and Vlad pushed down on Anya, by pressing down on Brain.

"Are we playing hide and seek?" The blue-eyed mouse asked, peering over the top of his friend's head to try and meet his eyes. "_Zort!_ I love hide and seek! But who's it?"

"The dynamite is it," Brain snapped, reaching back behind him to grasp Pinky's scarf. "Now stay down and keep-" The explosion drowned out whatever else he had to say, but the compartment was now separated from the wild engine.

Dimitri was the first up, using his coat to battle away flames that clung to the edge of the hole that had been created, and Vlad tried to turn the wheel that would stop them. "The brake's are out!"

"Turn harder!" Dimitri ordered and the wheel simply came off the spoke.

"Oh no, the choo choo has an owie." Pinky's brow creased in worry as Vlad tossed the brake aside.

Dimitri turned to face them all, schooling his face into as nonchalant of an expression as possible given their current speed. "Don't worry, we've got plenty of track. We'll just coast to a stop." As he said this, the bridge in the distance seemed to spontaneously erupt in an explosion of wood and metal. The very bridge the train needed to cross.

Brain stared out at what remained of the bridge, estimated that they had less than five minutes to either vacate the compartment or die. "Pinky, to borrow some of your vernacular: egad."

"Narf!" Pinky gaped at the bridge. "Brain, London Bridge is falling down! How will we ever get to the green grass on the other side now?"

"I've got an idea!" Dimitri turned around and ran for some chains conveniently laying in a heap off to the side. "Vlad, give me a hand with this!"

"The only green grass, you'll be- ow!" he yelped, interrupted when Vlad tripped over him and toppled into a barrel. Brain lifted a hand to his head while Anya went to assist Dimitri. "I'm beginning to regret this plan," he muttered dizzily.

"Why's that, Brain? This is a fun-fun silly-willy ride!" Pinky laughed. "The train just keeps going faster!"

"We don't _want_ it to go faster, Pinky!" Shaking off the dizziness, Brain grabbed Pinky by the snout and dragged him down. "Going over the side of that bridge is bad!"

"We don't? Poit." Pinky tilted his head, but his attention was quickly captured by Dimitri and Anya as they struggled to keep the human male from falling off the train. "Zounds! That looks like fun too, Brain! But shouldn't he wait 'til the train stops before trying to play in the snow?"

When both were standing, Dimitri brushed off his vest. "If we live through this, remind me to thank you."

"I don't think he was trying to play in the snow, Pinky." But as they started to push the coiled chain to one side, Brain grabbed Pinky's wrist. "Quickly. Find something to grab onto!" he ordered even as he dragged Pinky to one of the crate's.

Pinky simply wrapped both hands around Brain's arm. "'Kay, Brain!"

Vlad had come loose from the crate he'd fallen into, as Anya and Dimitri backed away from the door. The chain clanked around on the tracks before latching onto one of the wooden planks. It jerked the train before pulling free, tearing away the tracks behind it.

It wasn't stopping them, but they were slowing enough to make a jump at least feasible. The humans gathered their bags, Vlad tucking the puppy and the two mice under one arm, and they all peered into the rush of snow. "Well," Anya said, shouting to be overheard, "I guess this is our stop!" Brain banded an arm tightly around Pinky's waist, the other hand curled into the mutt's fur, and the three humans jumped.

* * *

STEPH I LOVE YOU.


	3. Chapter 3

They landed hard in the snow, Brain and Pinky bouncing around forcefully enough that their heads banged together. And behind them the engine and then the baggage car fell over the cliff, creating a massive explosion.

The three humans shakily got to their feet, brushing off the snow from their coats and checking themselves for any injuries. Vlad checked Pooka over, the pup didn't seem any worse for the wear, and neither did the two mice by comparison. Although they were sure to have splitting headaches.

"Wahahaha-_narf_! Oooh, that was brilliant!" Pinky laughed despite the dizziness he felt from his head bopping against Brain's. "Can we do it again, Brain?"

"Pinky, when my brains stop rattling, I shall have to hurt you." He lifted both hands to his head, releasing his grip of the mouse.

"I _hate_ trains," Dimitri decided. "Remind me _never_ to get on a train again."

"Agreed," Brain muttered and plopped face-first into the snow.

Pinky smiled, throwing himself onto the snow as well, only on his back instead of his front. "That's not how you make a snow angel, Brain! Look, it's like this!" He started moving his arms and legs so he could create his own, all the while looking up at Vlad. "How will we get to Paris if our train went bye bye?"

"He has a point." Anya sighed, adjusting her coat and crossing her arms as she eyed Dimitri. "Are we gonna walk to Paris?" Her voice lifted a little towards the end, the sarcasm evident to all but Pinky.

"Oh, but isn't it far?" He blinked, ceasing his snow angel for a moment, arms and legs still splayed out.

Picking himself out of the snow, Brain snatched Pinky's scarf and tugged it tight, releasing it with a _snap_ so it smacked the mouse in the face. "It's very far, Pinky. We're absolutely not going to walk all the way."

"We'll take a boat in Germany," Dimitri affirmed.

"Oh. Then we're walking to Germany." Both Anya and Pinky replied in unison, although one said it with much more understanding than spite. And with an added "zort" tacked onto the end.

"No, Your Grace," Dimitri said to Anya, flicking a mildly annoyed look Pinky's way. This immediately rose Brain's own annoyance. The human had no business looking at Pinky that way. "We're taking a bus."

"A bus!" She feigned relief, starting to trudge through the snow after Vlad. "That's nice."

"Oh, yes, I love buses almost as much as I love trains!" Pinky exclaimed, the annoyed look having gone completely over his head, far too used to them by this point.

Brain scowled, grabbing Pinky's wrist and pulling him up. "Come, Pinky. We're a ways off from a bus station." He hated buses.

-8-8-

The walk to the bus station in Poland was slow going at first, having to force their way through the snow. The two mice managed to hitch a ride on Vlad's shoulder once again, in order to keep up with the humans. Once the snow melted away to beautiful, green countryside, their pace picked up considerably. Pooka was allowed to run around a bit, Pinky latched onto his back for the ride, as the group took a quick break to rest their legs. Anya sat perched atop one of their trunks, whilst Vlad decorated himself in flowers, chirping about a woman named Sophie. At least one had to assume she was a woman and not a decadent dessert given his descriptions of her.

"Is this a person, or a cream puff?" Anya asked of both Vlad and Dimitri, a wry smile on her face as the pair spun about, much to the younger man's displeasure.

"She sounds yummy!" Pinky laughed as Vlad scooped up Pooka, and him by default, dancing them around the path.

"She sounds toothache-inducing," Brain muttered, perched beside the orphan girl. He'd decided through Vlad's diatribe that the man had completely lost his mind.

"She's the empress's ravishing first cousin!" he announced and Brain's ears perked.

"Her cousin?"

Anya seemed to take this in just as quickly as he was and rose. "But... I thought we were going to see the empress herself. Why are we going to see her cousin?"

Both mouse and girl looked to the younger man accusingly. "Dimitri?"

"Well... No one gets near the dowager empress without convincing Sophie first."

When Anya immediately started arguing, Brain dropped his head into his hands. "I officially hate this plan," he muttered.

Being spun around by Vlad, Pinky missed a good portion of their conversation. By the time he was swept past the group, all he managed to glean from the argument was Anya's vehement: "But look at me Dimitri, I'm not exactly Grand Duchess material here!" She tugged on her ratty dress for emphasis, and Pinky had to agree that it wasn't the prettiest dress, but that could easily be fixed! The rest of her was very lovely!

"Poit. Oh, dear, Pooka. Miss Anya doesn't think she's pretty enough for her family!" Pinky bemoaned, hugging the puppy tightly. "We have to help her!" He brightened as she stormed their way, though she slowed her pace when Vlad handed her one of the flowers from the headdress he'd made.

The two leaned against the bridge's railing, gazing at the water below. Vlad set Pooka and Pinky on the railing in front of him. "Tell me, child, what do you see?"

"I see a skinny little nobody," was the pessimistic reply. "With no past and no future." The rose was dropped.

"I see an engaging and _fiery_ young woman," Vlad corrected. "Who on a number of occasions has shown regal command equal to any royal in the world!"

Pinky glanced down at Pooka, voice low, "I think that's a nice way of saying she's bossy. Poit." But it seemed to be doing the trick, she looked a little less sad. He waited until Vlad had finished, stating he knew his own fair share of royalty. "Your family will love you even if you're not a fortune teller! That's what families do! _Narf!_" Was his own bit of helpful advice, and though both humans were slightly baffled by his outburst, Anya smiled gratefully at Vlad as well as the little mouse for attempting to cheer her up.

Until Dimitri sidled over with his words of wisdom, depositing Brain on the railing as well. "So, you ready to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia?" Pinky, Pooka, and Vlad all groaned together, seeing Anya's defiance flare back up as she pushed away from the railing. Dimitri held up his arms in a placating manner. "What?"

"There is nothing left for you back there, my dear." Vlad gestured behind them. "Everything is in Paris."

While Anya took a moment to think, Brain moved closer to Pinky. "This trip is a perfect reminder as to why I need to take control of this planet away from humans," he muttered.

Pinky looked down at him from atop Pooka, holding out a paw to help him up, since the humans were moving away from the bridge and the pup looked about ready to jump down. "How's that, Brain? _Narf!_"

"Because they're all fools," he muttered, clinging tightly to his friend when the dog took the leap.

"Gentlemen," Anya suddenly said, turning around with a smile, "start your teaching."

"I remember it well!" Vlad stepped towards her and Brain's head dropped to Pinky's back.

"Oh, no. They're going to sing," he realized.

"Oh, goody! _Troz!_ I love singing!" Pinky cheered, hugging Pooka's head as he craned his own to listen. Apparently Anya was born in a palace by the sea.

"You rode horseback when you were only three!" Vlad gestured to the sky and Pinky was astounded to see the clouds form a majestic horse.

Blinking, then rubbing his eyes, the mouse found it to still be there. "How'd he do that, Brain?"

"I have... no idea."

"And the horse-"

"-he was white!" Dimitri joined.

Pinky clasped his hands together, bringing them up to the side of his face. "Oh, he sounds lovely! Just like Pharfignewton!" He sighed happily.

Brain's eyes narrowed at the reminder of that infernal horse. "If you can consider those of the equine classification lovely," he muttered and leaned away from the mouse. He nearly toppled off Pooka as a result when the dog jumped; they were suddenly being surrounded by small, woodland creatures.

"Well, of course, Brain!" Pinky threw his arms out wide. "Horsies are graceful and have beautiful flowing manes and they make funny noises with their lips! _Zort!_" He hugged himself tightly, as if to contain all his enthusiasm, then gasped with delight as he took in all the little animals. "Egad, how did we end up in _Snow White_, Brain?"

"Pinky! Don't mention that name! We could get sued." Brain rolled his eyes and scooted a fraction closer to the mouse. "Just listen to their song and hold onto the mutt." They were teaching Anya how to keep correct posture with a stick on her head. Ugh. It was childish, but at least she was finally being taught how to act like a princess.

"If I can learn to do it, you can learn to do it!" Vlad was instructing in song, as he also took a turn balancing the stick.

"Can I learn to do it, Brain?" Pinky asked, scratching his ear, keeping one hand firmly on Pooka just like he'd been instructed to. "A stick is your friend, after all! Though I don't know how walking around with one on your head makes you a princess. I think it just makes them look rather silly. Troz! What they need is a glass slipper!"

"And what you need is a poison apple," Brain grumbled and raised a fist to bop him when they were rather abruptly on a truck. His fist lowered. "Odd."

Pinky blinked, then looked about. He was sitting beside Pooka now, instead of on him and they were moving. "...Brain? Umm... poit, how did we get on this truck?" When he reached up to tap his chin, he then noticed the bowl resting on his lap. "Zounds! And where did this soup come from?"

"That, Pinky, is the power of a montage." He gave Pinky's shoulder a fond pat, more pleased by it than he wanted to admit. With luck, it would last them until Paris. "Just go along with it, old friend."

Glancing from the soup to Brain and back, he asked. "Can I eat it then?"

"Pinky, in a moment you'll feel as though you have-" They were on horses, more specifically Vlad's horse. Pooka was tucked under his hat and, it seemed, where Pooka went they went. He watched Anya take lead with ease and shook his head.

"My soup!" Pinky looked around frantically as they bounced. He grabbed onto one of Pooka's floppy ears. "But it smelled so good! Hey! _Narf! _These horsies aren't white! And where did we get them from? Are we going to give them back to their owners when we're done?"

Before his question could be answered, the horses had been replaced with a car. He and The Brain sat in the front seat with Pooka, while the three humans sang very rapidly behind them. "I feel kinda dizzy from all the spinning." Pinky twirled his finger in the air, looking up at Pooka. He was right below the dog's chin. "Egad, Brain! I feel closer to Pooka than ever before!" In response the puppy licked him thoroughly.

"So I see," Brain grumbled, a bit irritated by his heightened levels of jealousy. "It's merely an effect of the montage, Pinky. Anything can happen in them."

But then they were in bicycles, Brain hanging over the edge of Anya's basket. Bike riding was clearly new to her and the wobbling seemed to be making him sick.

"And now we have bicycles!" Pinky chirped from atop Pooka's head, peering down at Brain from his perch. "I want to ride my bicycle! _Narf!_" He started singing, then laughed. "Do you want a bicycle built for two, Brain?"

A blush filled his cheeks, mixing oddly with his current green shade. "No," he grumbled, though it came out more of a groan. "But I do want this scene to switch..."

And switch it did. To a bus already pulling up to the docks. "You're magic, Brain!" Pinky awed, gaping at the scenery. The song was reaching it's climax as well, all three singing in harmony. Finally trying to pay attention to what they were even singing about, Pinky simply found that he couldn't keep up. "Wait... who's learning to can do what?" His eyes crossed and his nose wrinkled as he tried to make sense of it all. "Zort."

Brain picked up his bag, absolutely no idea how it had followed them, and started up the board to get onto the ship while the humans struck a pose. If the song was over, so was the montage. "Anya is learning how to behave like Anastasia. Now come, Pinky."

Staring up at the ship as he followed Brain, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of deja vu. "I hope we don't meet any mean icebergs. They're rather rude." He huffed as the group finally boarded.

"It's unlikely that we'll meet any icebergs in the middle of the North Sea." But Brain felt uncomfortable about boarding the _Tasha_ just the same. Shaking it off, he grabbed Pinky's wrist to tug him along. "Now hurry before the scene cha-"

-8-8-

"-nges." The megalomaniac looked around and sat back with a scowl. They were on the deck of the ship, sharing a small table with a chessboard. "Drat."

Vlad moved his bishop, hovered for a moment. "Checkmate."

Immediately uninterested in the game of chess, Pinky spun around in search of his playmate. "Where did Pooka go?" He whined, growing worried until he spotted Anya approaching, the puppy at her heels. "Naaaaarf!" She'd put on a beautiful blue dress and tied her hair up with a matching ribbon. She certainly looked like she could be a princess now! Clearing her throat to garner the attention of the two men, Anya gave an experimental twirl.

Brain had started to glare at the mention of Pooka, but he turned his head with the humans and blinked. "She actually looks... female."

Vlad's opinion was a bit more robust. "Wonderful! Marvelous!" He went up the girl quickly, capturing her hand to better look her over while she played with the dress. "And now you are dressed for a ball, and you will learn to dance for one as well. Dimitri!"

"I'm not very good at it," he protested with a small chuckle, but took position.

They danced to Vlad's count for a moment and Brain rolled his eyes, getting to his feet to move one of Dimitri's pawns. The two humans were truly pitiful at chess to have not noticed such a simple move. Vlad's supposed checkmate successfully averted, he allowed himself a small smile.

Pinky swayed along to the count as well, his eyes closed for a moment as he hummed a little. When Vlad began to sing, he opened them, Dimitri and Anya were dancing quite fluidly, adding a couple flourishes in. And they were having a civil conversation! With no fighting at all! In fact, it seemed to be a rather intimate conversation, from the way they gazed into each other's eyes and spoke softly.

With a soft gasp, Pinky placed his hands to his cheeks and rose to his tip-toes in excitement. "Oh, look, Brain! They're falling in love!"

"Pinky, I highly doubt a man like Dimitri would fall for..." He paused, thinking a moment. What was a nice word for 'meal ticket?' There wasn't one. "Someone like her."

"_Narf!_ Oh, but he is, Brain! See?" Pinky pointed to them as Dimitri gave Anya a twirl. "And she is too!"

Brain looked at them, the sight a little disconcerting. "Pinky, it wouldn't do either of them any good to fall in love. It would ruin everything," he muttered.

He rocked back onto his heels, grinning knowingly. "Well, it's too late for that, Brain! They're dancing! And dancing always leads to love! Here," Pinky wrapped an arm around Brain's waist, pulling him closer and lifting him up. "I'll show you!" Following the count and the rhythm of Vlad's voice, Pinky waltzed them around the table, right onto the chess board while being careful of the pieces. He simply danced around them.

"Wait," he protested, but it was already too late. The Brain rested a hand on his associate's shoulder, the other one caught in Pinky's. "Pinky, dancing doesn't-" His heart was pounding uncomfortably hard and fast. "It's not a certain thing."

"Shush, Brain. You're ruining the moment." Pinky hummed, pressing him closer as he spun around. He had to improvise a little, since Brain's feet didn't touch the floor, but he didn't mind. Dancing was dancing.

"But Pinky-" The ramifications of this little experiment - however ridiculous - could be very detrimental to... something. He wasn't entirely sure what just at the moment, but he was certain there was something. "Love requires a... a chemical reaction. It isn't something that simply occurs. If anything, dancing just... brings it to light."

"Brain..." Pinky whined, his steps faltering a bit. It was really hard to concentrate on what he was saying and dancing at the same time. Especially when he used such a smart word... like chemical. He lost him there. "Dancing is a huge part of love! You can't just dance with anyone." He managed to regain the fluid momentum, resting his cheek on top of Brain's head. "_Narf._"

Brain tried to protest again, but trailed off. Pinky very clearly wasn't listening and he was finding it inordinately difficult to articulate his thoughts anyway. It was fairly obvious that Pinky was, essentially, professing his love. He blew out a surprised breath at that realization, swallowed hard. "Pinky, don't..."

A high pitched bark threw off Pinky's rhythm, as well as drew his attention away from the waltz. The puppy was looking at the from his perch on Vlad's lap, and Pinky released Brain's hand so he could wave at him. "Hi Pooka! You want to dance too?"

So much for not dancing with just anyone. Feeling foolish and immensely disliking it, Brain pushed away. How he could've thought for even a moment that his simple-minded associate would be able to grasp a concept as complex as love was beyond him. "Put me _down_, Pinky."

Blue eyes widened as they were drawn back to the pink ones of his friend. "But, Brain, we're not finished yet!" And they were having such a lovely time.

He grabbed Pinky's ear and gave it a sharp tug. "We're finished. Put me down."

"Poit..." Pinky did as he was told, albeit reluctantly. He wrung his tail between his hands, unsure of what had occurred to make the mood turn so sour. "Brain, did I do something wrong? You seem extra grumpy now." Dancing wasn't supposed to make people grumpy, it was supposed to make them smile.

"Dancing doesn't make anyone fall in love," he snapped, ignoring the question. "It takes a lot more than something so... frivolous." He went to the edge of the table, not bothering to look back. He hurt. Why on _earth_ did he hurt? "Go dance with the mutt," he muttered and jumped down.

Ears pinned flat to his head, Pinky felt his stomach twist uncomfortably at the blunt statement. Brain sounded so _mad_. He sniffled, dabbing at his eyes with his tail to keep from crying. He didn't want Pooka to feel as if he wasn't as good as Brain, it was completely different and the two feelings could not be compared at all. Still, the puppy bore witness to his unhappiness and whined as he approached the table, staring up at Pinky with equally blue eyes.

"My dancing isn't friv-frilly-frio-whatever he said!" He told his oddly intuitive playmate decisively, even though he had to talk around a lump in his throat. "I only dance waltzes with him!" Suddenly it dawned on him. "Egad, Pooka! He must think I dance like that with everyone! _Narf!_" How scandalous! "I'm sorry, Pooka, but we'll have to do the lindy-hop later. I need to apologize to Brain first, he must've misunderstood!" A series of short licks let him know he was alright with postponing their playtime. Pinky laughed and hugged Pooka's nose. "_Troz!_ Thanks! Brain! Wait for me, Brain!"

He slid down Pooka's back and hurried off in search of his very best friend, not even taking notice that Anya too had been left by her dance partner.


	4. Chapter 4

Again, I fail at updating XD There's no excuse

I promise I'll try and do better, lol

There's only 10 chapters

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Brain was perched on a suitcase, a book before him. He'd been trying to read, trying to drown out Pinky's babbling ever since the dancing fiasco. It was simpler to dive into a mathematics book and ignore the ponderings and analyzing of his feelings than it was to face the ponderings. He didn't feel anything for Pinky besides friendship and the sooner the peabrained fool left him alone, the sooner he would be able to convince himself of that.

What worried him, though, was how soon their room was going to darken. Dimitri was already fast asleep, taking the floor and leaving the bunk beds to Anya and Vlad. Brain and Pinky were going to share a drawer that had already been stuffed with a pillow and a small blanket. He'd rather just spend the night reading than be in close proximity to Pinky while in this confounded state. He and Pinky may have spent nearly two full years sharing a bed, but that was no reason to... to continue the practice. They were grown mice. Pinky could sleep on his own.

Scowling, he turned a page, rustling the paper unnecessarily to drown Pinky out.

"-and that's why swing dancing is faster! _Zort!_ So, see Brain? It's different and I'm really sorry I made you think I was a wishy-wally-dancer." It had been the seventh (or eleventh, he was bad at counting) time he'd gone through the whole apology, but it still didn't seem to make Brain feel any better.

Pinky whimpered softly. This wasn't good at all, The Brain wasn't even looking at him. All he'd been focused on was that book of his, not a single bop on the head for pestering him. Shoulders slumping, he plopped down on the same suitcase Brain was sitting on and watched Pooka bound around the room. He couldn't bring himself to play with the puppy right now, not with Brain mad at him, so Pooka was left to his own devices for entertainment. Part of it involved burrowing into a bag near Dimitri.

Anya and Vlad talked quietly off to the side, the girl brushing her long hair as they readied themselves for bed. Pinky sighed, he wouldn't be able to sleep with this twisty snake in his tummy. He'd just have to try again! Placing his paws on the top of Brain's book, he hoisted himself up and peered over the edge, crinkling the page in the process. "Please, Brain, I'm sorry!"

It was the first time Pinky had actually touched the book and Brain realized that the stooge wasn't just going to stop. His short attention span didn't seem to be doing its normal job. Brain looked up, scowling deeply. "_Fine_, Pinky! Your apology is accepted. Now stop it and go away."

"No! You're still mad and scowly!" He wailed, though his ears finally perked up at the attention. "Poit! And not in the good scowly way!" There was a difference. Clearly.

"Did it ever occur to you that I'd be less 'mad and scowly' if you would leave me alone to think?"

"Ummm..." Pinky glanced up for a moment, as if thinking, then met Brain's gaze again. "Is that a trick question?"

With an irritated growl, Brain pulled his book away from Pinky. "Leave me be, Pinky."

"But Brain!" He followed, jumping back atop it because it seemed like the only way Brain would talk to him. Pinky tried to inch a little further up the book this time, leaning more than half his body over the pages, blue eyes big and pleading. "I'm sorry!" He placed his palms together in the typical begging gesture. "Puh-leeeze don't be mad-whoa! Waaaaha!" His weight overbalanced the book and it toppled over, both book and mouse falling atop Brain. "Troz..."

Brain pulled himself out from beneath the book, turning to glare at his imbecilic sidekick. "Pinky! Is 'leave' too big of a word for you now?" He knew he was being meaner than necessary, but he couldn't help it. "Just... just _go_! Get out of my sight!" Leaving the book, Brain spun away and stalked off to the dresser and climbed up it to the one that had been opened.

Wringing his hands together, his ears wilted once again dejectedly. "Poit." Oh, he'd gone and messed everything up! Brain didn't like him anymore! Pinky turned around to face the rest of the room, searching for Pooka so he could ask for his advice on what to do next. He seemed to be an expert. The pup was playing with Anya it seemed, he'd fetched her a lovely little box of some kind. Were he in better spirits, he would've wanted to play with it too.

Vlad climbed up to his bunk, whilst Anya scooped up Pooka to let him cuddle up with in her bed. Oh, he couldn't talk to Pooka now, not with the lights being turned off and everyone going to sleep. He'd have to wait until morning. Still, that also posed a problem. Where would he sleep? Pinky glanced longingly up at the dresser, but that certainly wasn't an option right now. And he couldn't exactly sleep with Pooka, not while he was on Anya's bed, people would talk. Her shoes looked quite comfortable though. He crawled into the one that was lying on its side, curling up into a ball as he rested his cheek against his arm. He'd talk with Brain more tomorrow, maybe he'd be less angry after he got some sleep.

It took Brain all of fifteen minutes, now that he had nothing to distract him, to ponder and dismiss everything that had happened on the deck. Pinky had been inappropriate, but he always was. He couldn't blame the simple-minded mouse for being, well, simple-minded.

He'd also discovered that he wasn't going to be able to sleep without the mouse's presence. Not because he _needed_ Pinky in order to sleep, mind, but because the guilt at snapping so cruelly at him would keep him awake. He sat up and threw aside the covers for the moment, crawling to the edge of the dresser and peering out over the top of the drawer. "Pinky?" he hissed, looking about. Where had that idiot gone?

His ear twitched, but Pinky stayed where he was. "I'm asleep, Brain." He said quietly, not sure if he could hear him, but didn't want to disturb anyone from their sleep. "Leave a message. Narf."

Actually, it'd be better if he didn't leave a message. Pinky didn't really want to be yelled at again, and it usually took Brain much longer to calm down than this. Besides, his shoe was comfortable and he was starting to get awfully sleepy. It had been a busy day of montages after all. They'd done so much, and yet so little.

"Pinky!" Brain called again, trying not to wake anyone. Either he was asleep already or just ignoring his calls. Either option only served to make Brain irritable all over again. Then again... There was also the possibility that Pinky's feelings had been hurt. That brought the guilt back and Brain grabbed his ears, tugging them sharply. "Pinky, I'm-" The word stuck in his throat. "Pinky, come here!"

Ooooh, he sounded mad again! Pinky clapped his hands over his ears. He was out of his sight, what more did he want? Unless Brain had X-ray vision and could see into the shoe... That would be really neat! Still... if he wanted him out of sight and was now asking him to come back... maybe he was ready to let him apologize now.

Crawling out of the shoe, Pinky poked his head out over the top of it. He looked up to see Brain over the the edge of the dresser drawer. "Can I say sorry now, Brain?" he asked, stepping towards the piece of furniture.

Oh, that didn't help the guilt. "You've apologized enough, Pinky. Just come up here so we can get some sleep."

Ears and tail both perked and he scaled the dresser in record time. "Oh, thank you, Brain! _Narf!_" He hugged him tightly, overcome by his relief that Brain liked him again.

Brain allowed the embrace for a moment longer than he normally would have thanks to some wild idea about letting Pinky squeeze the guilt from him. But when that Pinky-esque thought was fully realized, he pushed away like normal. Clearly, he'd been around Pinky for far too long. "Yes, yes. Just go to sleep. We've a long day ahead of us."

"'Kay!" Pinky flopped down on the pillow, it was quite a bit more comfortable than the shoe after all, and rolled onto his side to face his friend. "Goodnight, Brain!"

Brain rolled onto his back so he wouldn't have to look at his sidekick, but he was... pleased to have him nearby. He closed his eyes with a soft sigh. "Goodnight, Pinky."

Unfortunately, sleep eluded him now, his heart buzzing with excitement. He'd been forgiven, oh, he was so happy! Pinky tossed and turned for a little while, then tried to count sheep, but that didn't work because a nasty ol' wolf came and disrupted him when he couldn't remember what came after three and chased all the sheep away. It was very rude. Finally, he eyes grew heavy, feeling sleep creep up in the corners of his mind as a pretty green glow edged its way into the room.

Wait. A pretty green glow? Pinky sat up to get a better look, rubbing his eyes to make sure it wasn't just exhaustion making him see things. The smoky green glow snaked along the floor, practically hissing as it nearly made contact with Dimitri before sliding the opposite way. Right towards Anya. He was distracted from it, however, when the girl began to stir. She yawned in her sleep, stretching her arms up over her head before rising from the bed.

"Poit. Miss Anya, it's beddy-by time." Pinky chastised quietly as she stumbled towards the door. "Where are you going? Oh, wait, your eyes are closed. You don't know where you're going. _Zort!_" The green glow vanished back out under the door, the girl following it. "If you're going to take a walk, you should really open your eyes, Miss Anya!" But she didn't listen, the door closing behind her.

Pooka startled awake, glancing around for his owner as Pinky scampered down the dresser and over to the door. He was going to have to help her, lest she bump into any walls or sea monsters. "Don't worry, Pooka, I'll get her!" He reassured the puppy before squeezing through the crack of the door. He popped out on the other side and shook his head. Anya staggered down the hall, towards the stairs that led up to the deck. Rain pelted the steps exposed to the outside of the ship, and lightning lit up the corridor. With a gasp, Pinky ran after her. "Wait, Miss Anya! You'll get all wet if you play in the rain!"

The dog was barking. Pinky's voice had started to awaken him, but it was the dog's incessant barking that really did it. Brain rolled over with a groan, pulling the blanket over his head. "Pinky," he mumbled, "make the mutt be quiet..." When there was no response, the small mouse reached out to give Pinky a shove to show that he meant it.

But when his hand met only air, he cracked open an eye and found their makeshift bed empty. "Pinky...?" He sat up, stretching. "Pinky, I told you to get some sleep. Stop playing with the..." He leaned over the edge of the drawer and trailed off. Pooka wasn't playing around; he was desperately trying to wake Dimitri up.

He scanned the room, searching for a familiar spot of white, and discovered rather quickly that both Pinky and Anya were missing. "Pinky!" he gasped, hearing thunder boom outside. What on earth would Pinky be doing? He scrambled out of the drawer, scurrying down the side and over to the frantic mutt. His head wouldn't fit under the door without a helpful shove from Pinky, so he had little choice but to help awaken the human.

Pinky jumped when cold water sloshed up against the wooden planks, latching onto Anya's pajamas to keep from getting more wet. He craned his neck upwards, and called out to the girl again. "Miss Anya, I think we should go inside now! You don't have an umbrella or proper galoshes! Poit!" But she didn't seem to hear him, just kept smiling all silly-like as she climbed the stairs. The boat rocked with the storm, more of the sea spilling over across the deck. Pinky's ears plastered themselves to the side of his head. "Egad..."

In the room, Dimitri groaned, swatting the puppy away. "Pooka..." he growled, but the dog didn't stop. So he grabbed hold of him and lifted him up, giving up on sleep. "Pooka, what?"

"It's Pinky and Anya!" Brain snapped even while Pooka wriggled free and scrambled to the door, barking at it. He didn't quite understand why his levels of panic had risen so rapidly, but he was too lost in the urgent emotion to question it properly. "They've gone into the storm!" he shouted and was terrified. _Pinky!_

Dimitri looked to the empty bed, eyes going wide. "Anya!" He hastily got to his feet, The Brain latching onto one of his loose suspenders as the young man shoved aside the suitcases he'd been sleeping by and slid into the hallway. Brain was momentarily crushed between his body and the wall when he slipped into it, seeing how the idiot human was in socks, but he held on just the same as he started up the stairs. Pooka was left behind, unable to get up the wet step on his own, and barked pitifully after them.

Pinky's discomfort rose to fear as the girl stepped up onto the edge of the ship, precariously balanced between the safety of the deck and the vicious ocean. He clung to her pant leg, his fingers shaking, as he stared wide-eyed at the swirling, dark depths below them. Gulping, he tugged hard on her clothes. "Miss Anya!" He cried out, the storm was so loud, he tried to be heard over it. "Miss Anya, this water isn't for swimming!"

Brain and Dimitri had emerged clear on the other side of the deck, Brain staring wide-eyed at the dark sky above. Why on earth would the two of them have come out here? "Pinky!" he shouted as Dimitri called for the girl. His ears went flat, though, as a large wave came careening over the boat. "Oh, dear," he managed and tightened his hold on the human's suspenders as they were swept away by it.

The water receded, leaving the two deposited high in the crow's nest. Brain bounced around, coughing and choking on ocean water. "Anya!" Dimitri suddenly called, but the tone of surprise had Brain looking over to see her on the edge of the ship. She was about to step off, but what truly caught his attention was the glare of white visible by her leg when another spear of lightning lit up the area.

"Pinky!" he shouted.

Dimitri latched onto a nearby rope and desperately swung on it; Brain clutched the suspender for all he was worth. "Anya, no!"

He landed behind her and Brain reached out one hand to Pinky. "Pinky!"

"Brain!" Pinky tore his eyes away from Anya and focused on the arrival of Dimitri, and The Brain hanging on his suspender. He went to reach out as well, but the girl was no longer happy and smiling, instead she was moaning, grunting as she tried to fight something back, her weight tipping them back and forth. Holding tight to her leg for security, Pinky cried out as they seemed to go towards the ocean, until Dimitri's arms wrapped around her, pulling her back to the deck. She kicked and thrust her arms about, and Pinky took that opportunity to leap from her to Brain, his heart thundering in his chest.

Keeping one hand tight on the suspender, Brain clutched at and clung to his companion, managing to band his free arm around his waist. "Pinky! Dear lord, Pinky, what in the name of Frederick Griffith are you _doing_ out here?" He could vaguely hear Dimitri yelling at Anya to wake up, but he was too focused on Pinky to pay overmuch attention.

"Miss Anya was trying to swim with her eyes closed!" Pinky explained, his arms wrapping around Brain for security and comfort. "I couldn't let her do that! _Narf! _ She could've been hurt! But she wouldn't listen, Brain!"

"She was sleep-walking, Pinky. That's all." He'd only been trying to help... Good god. "You scared me half to death, you idiot." There wasn't any heat in Brain's words, just a quiet desperation as he nuzzled his companion. "_You_ could've been hurt."

Pinky nodded against him, his heart slowing and his panic dying down. It made him very conscious of how wet and cold it was outside. "Sorry, Brain. I didn't think she'd try to jump in. Poit."

"It's fine, Pinky. Simple-minded cretin." Brain pressed their noses together, rubbing unconsciously, relief overruling his sensibilities. "How am I supposed to take over the world without you?"

It wasn't nearly as cold now, not with the warmth flooding his cheeks, branching out from his nose. Pinky nuzzled back. "Umm... Is that trick question, Brain?"

Anya had successfully awoken, cradled by Dimitri as she cried over her nightmare, a very vulnerable position for the feisty girl. The young man began to lead them back below deck, to get out of the storm and prevent any more potential accidents. Pinky held on tighter as the suspenders shifted with Dimitri's steps.

As the relief faded, embarrassment replaced it, but the megalomaniac kept his hold on Pinky just the same as they were taken back below decks to a very relieved Pooka and a still-sleeping Vlad. He'd discovered something as potent as dancing when it came to revealing love, it seemed, and he would probably need a lot more than fifteen minutes of solid pondering before being able to shake this.

With a sigh, he gave Pinky a careful squeeze. "Let's just dry off and get back to bed, Pinky."

Relishing the affection, but still uncomfortably wet and cold, Pinky pulled away to fetch a towel of some sort. "'Kay, Brain!" They made do with a washcloth from one of the suitcases, the taller mouse only giving himself a quick rub down with his end of the cloth.

Brain rolled his eyes, drying off as much as possible. The wave had soaked him thoroughly, while the other mouse had only been dampened by rain. Still, he'd rather not have to sleep beside a wet mouse, so took over the task of drying off his cagemate himself. "You need to dry off properly or you'll make yourself sick," he grumbled by way of explanation.

Pinky wiggled in delight as he was dried, then ran his hands up and down his fur as it fluffed out. "Look, Brain! We're like marshmallows! _Zort!_" He reached out to feel Brain's fur too, to see if it was as fluffy.

Brain stiffened at the unexpected touch, but couldn't make his feet move in order to step back. He couldn't very well remember a time, if ever, when someone had run their fingers through his fur. "Pinky, don't... do that. We're both sufficiently dry; it's past time for bed. To sleep."

He looked over from where he was gliding his hand along Brain's arm. "Don't do what now?" Pinky asked, but it was clear that bedtime meant lying down. So he simply held on to the arm he'd been caressing and tugged him over to their pillow. "Aww, just sleep, Brain?" He hopped onto the squishy surface. "No bouncing or bedtime stories?"

The irritation that wrought returned his equilibrium to normal, thankfully, so Brain threw the blanket over Pinky's head. "Absolutely not. Just sleep."

Settling down, Pinky adjusted himself beneath the blanket before scootching closer to Brain. Much closer than he'd been earlier when they'd tried to sleep. He rested a paw on his shoulder, closing his eyes and curling his fingers in the fur. "'Night, Brain. And thanks for coming to get me. Poit."

Pink eyes were squeezed shut, a hand lifting to push away the one on his shoulder. But at the words, he only left his hand over Pinky's and sighed. "I always come to get you, Pinky... Goodnight."

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Aww

Yes, Brain, you always come to get Pinky :D

Even when he goes to Hell after selling his soul so you can have the world~


	5. Chapter 5

The remainder of their trip to Paris passed without any further issues. Pinky didn't see any more of the green glowing things, and quite honestly forgot about them the night on the boat. He was content to play with Pooka for most of it, since most of the conversation on their journey was really quite boring Anya was being quizzed on her whole life, which wasn't very fair since she couldn't really remember most of it, but she was getting better. It didn't occur to Pinky that it was because she'd heard the answers over and over again.

When they arrived at the house, Anya was past worried, she was so nervous and questioned her every answer. Dimitri did a fairly good job of reassuring her, and Pinky could only hope that her family wouldn't be so mean as to keep her from meeting them just because she got a few answers on her test wrong. There was more to life than grades, after all. At least he thought so, mostly because he did very badly on tests.

Vlad rapped his knuckles against the door, while Dimitri and Anya held back. The two mice were perched on the younger man's shoulder, apparently it would have been inappropriate to stroll into this woman's house atop Pooka. A young maid answered, barely having time to greet them before she was shoved aside by another woman, who certainly did live up to the status of cream puff that Vlad described her as. She squealed up seeing Vlad, striking a pose in the doorway that made Pinky fall into a helpless giggle fit. He tried smothering it with his hands, but it was awfully funny, especially when Vlad fawned over her.

"Sophie!" He crooned, proceeding to lavish affection upon her. Her arm specifically.

Pinky just laughed even harder. They were awfully cute and in love.

Brain, extremely uncomfortable with the very obvious display of affection, helped smother Pinky's laughter to give him a distraction from what was occurring in the doorway. The French were entirely too affectionate. France would have to be outlawed once he ruled the world.

"Oh, but look at me," Sophie was saying, "where are my manners? Come in! Come in, everyone!" She laced fingers with a laughing Vlad, bringing him along. Anya followed and then Dimitri, taking note of the dog running up the path. He neatly closed the door and Brain quietly approved. They didn't need the mutt coming in and making any messes.

"No!" Pinky gasped, turning around on Dimitri's shoulder. "Pookaaaa!" He reached out for the closed door, crying out for his lost friend. He could still hear his sad little barks on the other side. "He was my friend, oh, why must they go so young? Why? _ Narf!_"

"Pinky, quiet!" Brain grabbed his snout, jerking him close. "You'll see him after the interview, and it's very important that you _behave_ while we're in here."

His despair vanished, oh good, they'd see him again. Pinky offered up a salute to Brain's order. "Right, Brain! I will beehive! I'll be the best little honey bee you've seen!"

"Not beehive, Pinky. Behave. Oh, just..." Brain rubbed his head. "Just be quiet and stay with me."

"May I present Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna."

Dimitri nudged Anya forward after Vlad's introduction and Sophie gasped, circling Anya. "Oh, my heavens! She certainly does _look_ like Anastasia. But... so did many of the others. Where were you born?" she asked abruptly and Brain rubbed his hands together. The world would be in his grasp soon enough.

At first it was very boring. Pinky wished he didn't have to be a good bee. But then he saw Pooka in the window and it got about ten million times better. He waved at the puppy, catching his attention and making his stubby tail wag. It wasn't fair that he couldn't come in, but he supposed it wasn't so bad to play through the window while the test was going on. He'd be so preoccupied with Pooka that he wouldn't have time to be disruptive! Oh, it was a brilliant plan. His own tail started swishing as he made silly faces at the pup.

Luckily everyone was focused on Anya, and Dimitri had opted to stand out of the way by the mantle.

Besides a roll of his eyes at some point during the interview, The Brain paid his accomplice no mind. His attention was on Anya and the questions. He, of course, could've answered every single one flawlessly. But he was relying on a human's memory here, a human who couldn't remember anything before the age of eight no less. Hm. Perhaps he should've thought this plan through more thoroughly...

After a couple of hours, it seemed as though they were in. She'd answered everything and Sophie was quite clearly winding down. "Finally..." Brain could hear the sound of a cash register going off in his mind. "You'll most likely find this an impertinent question, but... indulge me. How did you escape during the siege of the palace?" The cash register exploded.

Dimitri gave a pained sigh and turned to the side, resting against the mantle and rubbing his temples. Brain wanted to bop something. They hadn't even _thought_ to try and come up with a response for that one! No one knew how the dowager empress had escaped with her granddaughter _except_ the empress and her granddaughter! "All this way for nothing," he muttered.

Anya for her part appeared deep in thought. Her brow knitted together as she turned her gaze to the floor, as if it would help her envision it. Her fingers absently toyed with the necklace she always wore as she began to articulate. "There was a boy... a boy, who worked at the palace..." She squinted a little, the next part fuzzy. "He opened a wall..."

Slowly, Dimitri turned from his slumped position, his eyes widening and jaw going slack. Her response wasn't anything special, but to him it appeared to resonate. She began to apologize for the ridiculousness of her answer, but it didn't seem to have affected Sophie's opinion of her in the slightest. Vlad asked how they did, growing ecstatic and whooping as she confirmed that she'd answered every question correctly. The noise startled Pinky awake, who had fallen asleep somewhere during the middle of the test. He nearly toppled off Dimitri's shoulder, as the man began to move away from the excited group.

"So, when do we see the empress?" Vlad asked after he spun Anya around, both grinning.

Pinky rubbed his eyes. "Did we win?"

"Yes!" Once outside, Brain slid from Dimitri's shoulder while Pooka ran around the corner excitedly.

"Oh, goo- Pooka!" Pinky forgot about the plan entirely, leaping down from his perch as well to run to the puppy. "Oh, I missed you too!" He received a long lick from him, then wrapped his arms around Pooka's wet nose. "_Narf!_"

Brain folded his arms, eye twitching a bit. He'd been hoping to get away from Dimitri to gloat about world domination, not so Pinky could run off to the mutt. "Hm."

Pinky started to scratch behind the dog's ears, lavishing a good amount of attention on him. He'd felt bad that he'd had to sit outside all alone for this whole time, so wanted to make it up to him. Pooka approved, his tail wagging and his foot gave a little kick. For the petting, he licked Pinky again and the mouse laughed before turning to Brain. "Come on, Brain, want to pet Pooka too? He missed us!"

"Because we were so very far away," the shorter mouse grumbled quietly and then he waved a hand and spoke louder. "No, Pinky, but you feel free. I'm busy." He was, really, wondering just how he'd use the position the empress would grant him in order to take over the rest of the world. Obviously, the first thing to do was take over the council itself.

Well, if Brain was busy, then he'd make sure not to bother him. "Okay, Brain!" Pinky turned to smile at Pooka, rubbing his side before searching the ground for a stick of some sort. "Let's play fetch!" Locating one and waving it in the air, he tossed it away to let Pooka run after it. "_Troz!_" As Vlad came out of the house to talk with Dimitri, Pinky darted after Pooka, not well-versed in the rules of fetch.

"Don't run off too far!" Brain called, crossing his arms.

"Sophie wants to take us shopping for the ballet!" Anya announced, running out of the house. Brain's gaze snapped to her. _Ballet?_ "Shopping in Paris! Can you believe it?"

Fetch had been forgotten in the wake of Anya's announcement. "The ballet!" Pinky whooped, spinning in a circle that sent him sprawling to the ground. "Oh, I love the ballet! Poit!"

Brain started to search for something with which to bop his companion, but suddenly found himself in front of a Chanel store... in a brand new suit jacket. He looked up, saw Anya in a rather short purple thing finishing up a spin. She latched onto Dimitri's arm with a wide smile and Brain smacked his brow. "Oh, no... Another song."

Pinky pranced out of Chanel on Anya's heels, doing his own little spin in his own little blue dress. Draped across his shoulders was a matching feather boa. He danced over to Brain, striking a pose with his arms held out so he could show off the ensemble properly. "Hi, Brain!" With a laugh, he popped out his hip and placed a hand on it, the other going up to his ear. "Do you like my new dress? _Narf!_"

Brain stared for a long moment, rather stunned. He'd seen Pinky in dresses before - he just loved to play dress-up for some reason and invariably played the girl in their schemes... or for fun - but something about this one was just... different. It was probably because of the feather boa. It added something that sparked a deja vu similar to the one he and Pinky had felt when boarding the _Tasha_. This deja vu, however, inspired a warmth in his gut rather than a fearful shiver down his spine.

"Go... put on a suit. You can keep the dress, but no meeting the dowager empress in anything less than suit!" He didn't know how he knew they were meeting the woman after the ballet, but he didn't question it. He attributed it to the cutscene and gave Pinky a shove back towards the store while Sophie began singing with the people of Paris. Key to your heart, indeed.

"Can I still wear the boa?" Pinky called out as he stumbled into the store, though he supposed it wouldn't go very well with a suit. Still, he kept it along with the dress, and was able to change into a stylish suit in record time. He even had on a little top hat.

As he strolled out of the store, suits were more fun to stroll in than twirl in, he was offered a flower from Sophie, who'd purchased several of them from a vendor. Delighted, he accepted it, then skipped over to Brain to hand it off to him. He miraculously managed to ignore how spontaneous dancing broke out in the middle of the street. And he did love spontaneous dancing.

One arm tucked behind his back, he dipped in a sort of half bow, his other arm outstretched with the flower clutched in his hand. "You hold the key to my heart, Brain." He smiled as he took the words from the song to make them his own. Paris was lovely, but he'd go anywhere as long as Brain was there.

"Pinky..." Brain really and truly didn't know how to react to the sweet gesture. His heart had sped up quite a bit, though, thanks to the stunning words. In the song they seemed ridiculous, from Pinky they were just... true. He took the proffered flower, twirling it under his nose. "Thank you, Pinky."

"_Zort! _ You're welcome, Brain!" Pinky beamed, then latched onto his arm, tugging him after Anya and the others who were dancing away. "Hurry, Brain! We don't want to get left behind and have the mongolian miss us!"

Still trying to convince himself that Pinky didn't mean the words quite the way he'd taken them, it took Brain a minute to figure out what "mongolian" was supposed to be. "Montage, Pinky," he muttered and some of his disgust with Paris returned when he saw Freud slip over a banana.

Pinky, however, was preoccupied with the scene that followed. "Why did they show that weird man on the plane, Brain?" He inquired, while eyeing the cheetah that strolled in front of them. Paris was a strange place, where was all the romance? Not that he didn't mind all the shenanigans, though the cheetah did have him on edge. After all, cheetahs were very big cats. And he also wanted to spend time in the "City of Love" with Brain while they had the time. Other than their brief dance, they hadn't spent all that much time together, and Pinky could tell he was feeling a little extra grumpier than usual.

"I don't know, Pinky," he replied, shifting closer to Pinky at the sight of the cheetah. "Paris is just an odd place." When they were suddenly in a painting, Sophie taking down men in berets with her exuberant dance steps, he only sighed. "A very odd place."

Suddenly they were inside the Moulin Rouge, seated at a table and watching some kind of show, or at least attempting to as Sophie kicked up her leg and sent her shoe flying onto the dance floor. Pinky laughed as Vlad dashed after it, then his eye landed on the tray of cheese at their table. "Naaaaaarf!" He began cramming as much of it into his mouth as he could manage. "Yummy!"

Brain rolled his eyes, not even bothering to get up. There was little point considering the fact that they were going to be somewhere different in a moment. But... this scene was taking longer than normal and something in the music suggested an imminent change in tempo. The song was going to be used to develop someone's character, it seemed, which meant...

Which meant they would stay in the scene. "Yes!" He darted to Pinky, grabbing his shoulders, and started to ask if Pinky was pondering what Brain was pondering, but his mouth was full of cheese. Never mind that, then. "Pinky! I've figured out how to get us out of the montage!"

It took a second for him to swallow enough of the cheese to manage to ask: "What's that, Brain?"

"Character development! All we need to do is interact in a way that will provide integral information to the two of us and we'll be free of it." His eyes gleamed a bit and he spoke the rest without thinking, his mind too busy congratulating itself on how clever it was. "The most common ways are getting into an argument of some sort or moving our relationship forward."

Pinky finally swallowed down the rest of the cheese, staring at Brain curiously as he explained how to outwit the montage. He too, had noticed the change in the music. It was slower, and kind of sad, though he supposed slow music didn't have to be sad. It could be romantic. His heart sped up and he clasped his hands together as he grinned uncontrollably. Move their relationship forward? Oh, he thought he'd never ask!

Without wasting another second to think about it, Pinky wrapped an arm around Brain's waist and tugged him close, leaning in to brush their lips together in a prolonged, but chaste kiss.

The music seemed to reach a climax around them, but held, poised and ready to begin again when they were through. But Brain didn't dwell on the success, simply because he couldn't. He was too busy gaping at his friend. "Pinky... You... What...?"

Oh, it was even better than he imagined! At least that's what his heart decided, and he typically agreed with it. Pleased with himself, and the fluttering in his belly that wasn't at all due to the delicious cheese, Pinky reached over to break off a small piece of the snack. He held it out to Brain, a little closer than was usually acceptable for offering food to someone, eyes bright and cheeks rosy. "Want some, Brain?" He asked, quite amused by his friend's gaping. He sure did look silly.

Blinking a couple of times, Brain lifted a hand to his head. Had he only done that so the montage would stop? "I... suppose," he finally agreed, expecting the scene to change again or to be handed the morsel normally despite their proximity. Proximity that he really should change. It was suddenly entirely too warm in this building.

Scooting closer, Pinky simply placed the piece of cheese at Brain's lips, tail wagging in expectation. "_Narf!_ Here, Brain." It was odd to see him look so confused, but at least he was being agreeable, and he'd been the one to suggest they move forward. He finally understood that this was the next step after their dancing, though Pinky would refrain from pointing that out. Brain didn't like to be wrong.

Brain waited a beat, but the scene didn't change. He took a hold of Pinky's wrist, eyes wide and heart thundering as he allowed Pinky to feed him. It was so very intimate, and he really shouldn't be allowing it to occur. He needed to get the scene moving; they had a world to conquer. He stopped when he got to Pinky's hand, having the wherewithal to stop himself from doing something as ridiculously romantic as kissing his hand or something. A blush filled his cheeks at just the thought. "Pinky," he murmured, a little surprised that the low tone was from _him_, "why are you doing this?"

"Well, poit, isn't this what people in love do?" Pinky tried to clarify, a little surprised that Brain was asking why, though it didn't dampen his enthusiasm. He leaned in to kiss him again, taking his friend's hands in his own. "I told you that you had the key to my heart, Brain, weren't you listening?" The last part was half-mumbled against his lips.

Clearly, he would just have to give the key back somehow. This couldn't continue. It really shouldn't. In direct contrast to the direction his mind was trying to take, his body swayed closer and his fingers laced with Pinky's. With a low sound that was half protest and half acceptance, Brain fitted their lips more firmly together.

Pinky's heart sped up once his kiss was actively returned. Heat rose from within his chest to his face, a little hum escaping him as he couldn't contain all the fluttery feelings inside. He pulled away, bringing their hands up between them. Adoration blossomed on his face as he gave their hands a squeeze. "I love you, Brain!" He declared, simply unable to keep it down, along with the ecstatic giggles.

"Pinky, I..." He couldn't. He released Pinky's hands to frame his face and draw their lips back together. He could do that, he supposed. For now while the world around them literally waited. But he couldn't just say the words to someone who probably didn't even grasp their full meaning. He'd seen Pinky fall in "love" too many times to really believe the words, no matter how much they sped up his heart. Feeling like another in a long list and hating it, Brain deepened the kiss with a desperate little sound.

The noise made him feel extra bubbly, as well as the force behind this new kiss. This kiss that Brain initiated. Pinky pulled him right into his lap, one arm about his waist and the other at the nape of his neck. He just wanted them to be as close as possible, it was such a wonderful feeling to have him this near. It was usually hard enough getting Brain to hug him, but now there were no qualms at all. They were in love! "Brain..." he sighed into the kiss, his head full of little tingly sparks.

Caressing Pinky's cheeks gently, Brain gave himself a moment to let his system settle. It didn't help much, but he did discover that being this close to Pinky - being held in his lap and _not_ being squeezed to death - was pleasant. He opened his eyes partway, leaning back. "I think..." There was a lump in his throat that he had to clear. "I think that's enough... character development, Pinky."

"Did I do good, Brain?" He asked breathlessly, his own blue eyes half-lidded as well. Perhaps Brain had accidentally taken some of his air when they were kissing. Not that he minded.

"You were..." His hands lowered to Pinky's shoulders, the breathless voice making him want to lean right back in. "Yes, Pinky. You did very, ah, well."

"_Troz._" He squirmed at the praise, giving Brain one of his more typical embraces. "You too, Brain!" The embrace might've become a super-squeeze hug, but Pinky was distracted by the fact that the environment seemed to be at a standstill... still. "Egad, Brain, the monopoly never came! Just like you said! Will everyone be ice sculptures forever?"

"Montage," Brain corrected, looking around. It should've started back up when they were through... kissing. He'd just shared three kisses with his sidekick, he realized, and the third one had most certainly not been chaste. There was no going back after that, was there? He was in _love_ with Pinky. Paris was not only going to be outlawed, it was going to be obliterated. "We're going to have to... talk about this later, Pinky," he muttered.

As the dancing around them slowly resumed, the music brushing past the note it had stopped on, Pinky turned his gaze back to Brain and nodded firmly. "Right, Brain! After the ballet! _Zort!_ Then we can have more hugs and kisses!" The extra squeeze was late in coming, but it finally happened, alongside Pinky's giddy laughter.

"Oh, dear." Brain covered his eyes, mortified. The montage had waited for him to realize he was in love before picking back up, and now Pinky wanted... Oh, dear. When he opened his eyes again, he and Pinky were separated and standing on the top of the _Arc de Triomphe_. They were only there a moment before there was a sudden cut to Anya being fitted for yet another dress. Pinky took a twirl of his own, giggled because the boa had reappeared, and then they seemed to be in a painting with people leaping about. Brain dropped down and waited for the song to be over.

The rapid scene changes were exciting, but disorienting as Pinky couldn't seem to figure out what exactly was going on. Finally, he was perched beside Brain again on Dimitri's shoulder as the group ascended to the top of the Eiffel Tower. "Oh, this is a fun ride, Brain!" He laughed, grabbing onto Brain as he looked around. The song seemed to be reaching its climax, though it paused once they reached the top, for the young man they were with appeared preoccupied and, dare Pinky think it?, melancholy. But then the music flared up once more and the song appeared to have arrived at its conclusion.

Brain looked up as fireworks went off in the sky, spots of great brightness and color in the inky black, and sighed quietly.

* * *

AN from skimmingsurfaces:

Brain has uncovered the secret of the montage sequence! And Pinky has discovered cheese! xD

I love this chapter xDDDD Boa's in it 3333 Even if only for a moment lol

* * *

I love this chapter, too~

Brain's discovered his feelings! He's not very happy about his feelings, BUT HE HAS DISCOVERED THEM XD


	6. Chapter 6

2 chapters in one day! Yay XD

* * *

When he looked down again, they were on the stairs beside Dimitri. Their suits had little caps and Brain even had a small cane in his hand. "Hm. Well, Pinky, this is it. After tonight, everything's going to be different."

"I know! I've heard wonderful things about this ballet company! _Troz!_" He hopped up a couple of the steps and waved his arms around. Seeing the look on Brain's face though, he corrected himself. "Oh, right! _Narf!_ The plan, right." Pinky sat back down abruptly, but no less excited. "I'm so glad we're finally reuniting Miss Anya with her family!"

"Only if the Grand Duchess agrees it's her," he grumbled, glancing up at Dimitri when he spoke.

"We don't have anything to worry about. She's the princess."

Vlad, who'd been nervously pacing, stopped and looked back. "I know, I know-"

"No, you _don't_ know."

Brain watched him, rather perturbed by the dramatics, but when Dimitri revealed that he'd been the boy who'd opened the wall, that Anya's inane response to Sophie's final question was an actual memory, his ears dropped and his eyes went wide. They'd found the real Anastasia. His ears snapped straight again, a gleam in his eyes. "Yes!" They were guaranteed to succeed now.

Pinky looked between Dimitri and Vlad for a moment, then to Brain. "So she is the real Grand Supreme?" He clapped his paws together. "Oh hooray! She gets to live happily ever after with her grandmummy now!" Smiling up at the two men once more, his clapping ceased and his ears wilted as he bore witness to Dimitri's morose state.

Vlad looked to the young man sympathetically, laying his hand on his shoulder. "...And you-?"

"Will walk out of her life forever." Dimitri finished, walking down the steps to get some space. When Vlad tried to protest, he simply turned around to offer up a half-smile. "Princesses don't marry kitchen boys."

"Poit." Pinky watched him, wringing his tail as he realized what was going on. "Egad, Brain, but they're in love! He can't just _leave_!"

"Of course he can just leave, Pinky." Brain waved a hand dismissively, pleased with this new development. She _was_ Anastasia. The world was theirs - his. He flicked a glance at Pinky, a little wary at his thought process. His, of course. Well, yes, a little bit _theirs_. But not in a... Brain sighed, thinking for the first time since the genetic splicing that he really ought to leave certain things un-pondered.

Folding his arms across his chest, Pinky shook his head vehemently. "Not if he's in love! They're supposed to be together _forever_! There's no forever if he leaves, Brain." A car pulled up to the curb, and Anya stepped out, dressed more decadently than Pinky had yet to see. It was a lovely blue, matched her eyes quite nicely. "See? She even dressed up for him! He can't leave now!" He wailed, while neither Vlad nor Dimitri seemed to notice her presence.

"You've got to tell her." Vlad told him seriously.

"Tell me what?" Anya piped up, having missed the entirety of their conversation, hugging her blue, fur-lined wrap around her.

There was no point in explaining to Pinky that she'd dressed up for the ballet and to meet the empress and not for Dimitri. So Brain just rolled his eyes while Dimitri stumbled through a response. "Uh... How... beautiful you look."

"Come, Pinky. Once the ballet is through, she'll be reunited with her family and the rest of it."

Satisfied with the compliment, because it at least meant Dimitri wasn't going anywhere, Pinky followed Brain up the stairs. Latching onto his arm, he proceeded to drag his friend into the theatre. "We're going to see the ballet!" He sing-songed.

"My joy is boundless," he monotoned, attempting to extract his arm. "Don't latch on like that, Pinky. People will talk."

"But you're my date to the ballet, Brain!" Pinky held on tighter, refusing to be pried off so easily. "I gave you a flower and we kissed! _Narf! _ That makes us dates!" He paused for a moment to think. "Why don't they call them raisins? Or figs?"

"Or squash," Brain suggested, punctuating it with a bop.

"_Zort! _Squash! Good one, Brain!" Pinky snorted out a laugh, finally releasing his arm as he slid to the ground. He picked himself up, brushing off the suit and popping up his smushed top hat. When they entered, Pinky was astounded by how large and glamorous the foyer was alone. "Naaaaarf..." The grand staircase would take them ages to get up alone! They'd have to hitch a ride with one of the humans.

"I am not without some mirth," Brain replied, looking about. Perhaps some things in Paris would have to be saved before he obliterated it. "Come, Pinky. Vlad should give us a lift. His shoulder is certainly expansive enough."

With a nod, Pinky hurried over to Vlad and got his attention in time to ask his permission to ride on his shoulder. He lowered his arm to allow the mice passage, then took Sophie's arm once Pinky and Brain were secure on their perch. As they ascended the staircase, the taller mouse began to wiggle uncontrollably, his excitement projecting off of him in waves as his eyes roved over every inch. The people, the pretty lights, if the lobby was this fancy, the actual show was going to be brilliant!

It was Brain who grabbed now, latching onto Pinky's arm and tugging him downwards. "Pinky," he hissed, "stop it. You're supposed to be behaving like a gentleman, not a neanderthal."

"But Brain!" He whispered animatedly, blue eyes sparkling. "It's the ballet! Troz! I can't help it!"

"Fine, but don't whip your head about." Brain released him, but was unable to step back seeing that they were on a shoulder. He ended up having to latch onto him again, though, when Dimitri ran up the stairs, Vlad shifting to get out of his way. Speaking of neanderthals...

When they arrived at the balcony level of the theatre, Pinky leapt from Vlad's shoulder to the seat he and Brain would share, settling himself on the back of the chair. "Come on, Brain!" He waved him over, snatching their pair of binoculars from Vlad's coat pocket and propping it up in front of him.

Sighing quietly, Brain joined him. While he certainly enjoyed cultural events - or at least he felt as though he _had_ to enjoy cultural events - he was already beginning to wish he'd brought a book. Pinky's excitement helped alleviate some of the irritation for whatever reason, so he settled beside his companion and took a glance into his half of the binoculars. At least they had excellent seats.

"Shhh, Brain, it's starting!" Pinky hushed as the lights dimmed, even though the other mouse wasn't saying anything. He felt so jittery, peering through his lens at the expansive stage. The music started and his tail wagged in time with it. It was _Cinderella!_ Oh, he loved Cinderella!

Brain glanced at him, something scathing on the tip of his tongue that he just couldn't say. It was true that Pinky was incredibly simple to entertain, but even he knew that ballet was a particular favorite. It was one of the few things he would do on a regular basis. Normally his activities tended to vary in an extreme way. Brain reached out, giving Pinky's shoulder an absent pat. When he took over the world, he'd make sure his friend would be able to see as many performances as he liked.

The only thing that could rival the way the dancing captivated him was sitting next to him, so at the pat, Pinky glanced over for a moment and beamed at Brain. It was quick, for it was the best part of the show and he couldn't miss it!, but it was a grateful expression that lit up his face before he hid it away by looking through the lens again. He was so glad Brain let them go to the ballet, he'd have to remember to thank him before he forgot.

The smaller mouse had to swallow, a lump forming in his throat due to the expression. He had to force himself to remove his hand and look into the binoculars. The moves down below couldn't quite hold his attention, however, not when faced with Pinky's rather distracting behavior. He wiggled throughout the performance, occasionally spasming more than necessary as if he couldn't quite contain his levels of excitement any longer. He was surprisingly quiet, too, though giggles tended to accompany the spasms. Brain didn't notice that he'd been slowly edging closer to his associate until he was very nearly pressed against his side.

As the show came to an end, Pinky found himself all clogged with emotion. The last scene, with the carriage, simply brought him to tears. It was so beautiful. Dabbing at his eyes with his tail quickly, he just managed to join in the rest of the audience with his own enthusiastic applause. "_Narf!_ Egad, Brain, wasn't that the most lovely thing you've ever seen?"

For some absolutely ridiculous reason, his mind was saying that it had been. Though he was clearly not thinking along the same lines as his friend. He lifted a hand, gave Pinky's cheek a gentle pat. "It was. I'm glad you enjoyed it so thoroughly."

Pinky wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in close, nuzzling against him. "Thank you for letting us come, Brain! _Zort!_" He hardly paid any attention to Dimitri and Anya rising to their feet, getting ready to leave in search of the Grand Duchess. All his focus was on The Brain and how warm it felt when he hugged him.

"Pinky," he murmured, wanting to revel in the embrace, but they had a plan to continue. "We need to go with Anya and Dimitri." But he couldn't help but nuzzle back. It didn't really hurt anything, did it? The world was very nearly in his grasp. He could take a moment.

"To meet the Grand Crescent Roll?" His voice was soft, content, but the words were still absurd. Pinky inhaled deeply, relishing a hug that Brain was not actively trying to escape from. Unfortunately, thinking of crescent rolls made him hungry, forcing him to release his friend so they could get on their way to finishing this part of the plan and then go back to the hotel they were staying at. He could always hug Brain later! After taking over the world, he'd surely be in a good, fun-fun, happy mood!

"She's a grand duchess, Pinky." Brain stood quickly, irritated that the humans had already left. "Now come. We'll have to catch up to them."

Pinky jumped to his feet right after him. "Oh, it's like tag! Troz! Not it!" He hollered as he bounded to the floor. "That means _you're_ it, Brain!"

"Pinky, wait! We're not playing-" Brain broke off, slipping off the chair and falling into a heap on the floor. "Ow..." But he got to his feet quickly, shaking it off and running after his friend.

It was just like 'Chase Me' only they weren't playing it alone. You could only have two people for that game, but perhaps they could play later. Maybe before some more kissing, Pinky decided. He missed playing with Brain after all, but he always wanted his space for his plan thingies. At least he hadn't bothered Brain that much this time, he had Pooka as a fun second best friend.

Pinky giggled as he weaved through the crowd, pausing only when he realized he had no idea where Anya and Dimitri had gone. He came to a sudden halt, looking every which way in search of them. "Poit."

Brain couldn't quite stop, not expecting his companion's sudden halt, and ended up crashing into the taller mouse, sending them both rolling end over end until they came to a stop with The Brain ending up on the bottom. "Pinky!"

"_Narf!_" Pinky pushed himself up hovering over him rather than squishing him. "Sorry, Brain! Oh, I guess I'm it then. Now it's time for me to catch you!" Rubbing their noses together briefly, he then got to his feet and held out a paw to help him up. "You can have a head start."

"No, Pinky. We are not playing tag." He took the offered hand, not releasing it once he got to his feet, using it to pull Pinky along. "We have to find those two insipid humans before Dimitri forgets our deal and ruins everything."

Pinky squeezed his hand gently, happily following Brain through the crowd. "Oh, don't worry, Brain! Dimitri promised, _zort_! And it's rude to break a promise."

"Not everyone is as courteous as you, old friend." They weaved through shoes of people mingling in the fine hall, Brain lacing their fingers. He told himself that it was just to make sure Pinky couldn't wander off, ignored the fact that he just liked it.

As the mice approached the Grand Duchess' private balcony, Pinky could spy Anya waiting outside the door. It was cracked open ever so slightly, just enough for muffled voices to ease through. or two mice. "There she is, Brain!" The taller mouse pointed with his free hand, while swinging their joined ones together. "Where's Dimitri? Are we playing hide and seek now? Poit."

"He's probably introducing her to the grand duchess," he explained, intent on pressing forward. But something about Anya's face... He made an annoyed sound. What was that idiot man doing wrong? It should've been easy to convince the old woman that they'd found her granddaughter. But then Dimitri was forcefully removed from the room. "Drat. I _never_ should've relied on humans for this."

"Oh, that looks like fun, Brain!" Pinky laughed when Dimitri landed on his face, but somehow the two humans didn't look so amused. "Why aren't they smiling? I thought she was going to meet her grandmummy?"

"It was all a lie, wasn't it?" Anya accused softly, almost disbelieving, as she turned her head away from the man who tried to deny it, sprawled out in front of her.

While Dimitri attempted to deny it, Brain released Pinky's hand to rub forcefully at his brow. The plan was foiled, so how were they going to get back to the palace? He certainly didn't want to stay stuck in Paris. "No, Pinky, the plan failed."

"You used me? I-I was just part of your _con_ to get her money?"

"Poit." Pinky's ears dropped as she started getting more worked up as Dimitri protested, though acquiescing in a way. "What's she talking about, Brain?"

"No, no, look. It may have started out that way, but everything's different now! Because you really are Anastasia!" The man followed her as started walking away, Pinky backing up some to let them pass.

"Oh, stop it!" Anya rounded on him, shoving him back. "From the very beginning you _lied_! And I not only believed you, I actually... ugh!" She spun away again and tried to walk away, but Dimitri blocked her path to try and explain about the servant boy she'd remembered.

Brain watched the theatrics with increasing irritation. This is what happened when people fell in love - things fell apart. "She's just upset, Pinky."

"But why? Where's her family?" He began to turn around in circles, looking for anyone that could possibly be part of her family. "Narf! I don't see them."

"_No!_" Anya's sudden shout retrieved Pinky's attention. "I don't want to hear about anything I said or remembered! You just leave me _alone_!" When he didn't let her pass, she brought up her arm and smacked him across the face.

Pinky felt a little relieved and a little unsure. "Well, she hit him, Brain so she must still like him... but she still looks awfully upset." Although, Brain typically looked upset when he bopped him too, but never usually _that_ upset.

"Pinky, her liking him is the entire problem!" She stormed away, two men blocking Dimitri's path. He called out to her one last time before stepping back and giving up. "Him liking _her_ is part of the problem as well."

"But they're in love, Brain! There can't be any problems if you're in love!" Pinky hugged himself and swayed back and forth, though he stopped when he watched Dimitri gaze after her.

"There are innumerable problems when you're in love," Brain grumbled. "Come. Let's go outside. I need to figure out a way to get us back home before tomorrow night."

Blinking a few times, Pinky approached Brain with his arms folded behind his back. "We don't have any problems, do we?" The way his friend had grumbled... it left an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. Perhaps, he was just upset over the plan failing. Again.

"You never have problems, Pinky." Scowling, he started to walk off. There was really no point in waiting on Dimitri. "Perhaps we can find Anya. I'm sure she'll be ready to head home."

"But I thought she didn't have a home. _Zort!_" Pinky screwed up his eyes in concentration. He followed Brain nonetheless, casting one last look at Dimitri before grabbing onto Brain's hand.

"Well, Pinky, perhaps she can stay in the palace. It's certainly big and empty enough." And as long as she stayed out of their way, he'd be able to tolerate it. "Stubborn fool should be having others scrub her floors. Instead, she'll continue scrubbing her own."

"Really, Brain? Oh, hooray!" If Anya stayed with them, that meant her puppy would undoubtedly follow. Pinky swept him up for a tight embrace. "Then me and Pooka can play all the time! _Narf! _ We'll have a fun-fun silly-willy time!"

On second thought... His ears went flat and he pushed away. "Stop it. You're wasting time." If they hadn't spent time hugging on the chair, perhaps they could've stopped whatever Dimitri had done wrong.

Pinky released him and fell into step with Brain as they made their way out of the theatre. By the time they got out, Anya was nowhere in sight and neither was Vlad. "Now what, Brain?"

Brain dropped to the bottom step, removing his own hat and dropping it beside him. "Now we wait, Pinky."

* * *

Poor Brain D:

Nothing ever goes his way

Not to mention poor Dimitri! But, really, this is his own fault.

But at least Pinky's happy! XD If confused, but when is that any different from normal?


	7. Chapter 7

Sitting down beside his friend, Pinky looked about at the emptying streets. He blinked several times when he noticed Dimitri slouched over by a pillar, with longer legs it was quicker for him to maneuver through the crowd. How was he going to get a taxi from way over there? A car pulled up to the curb then, drawing his short attention span away from the discouraged human. It waited for some time, then the driver got out, looking past them. Pinky turned his head, there was a woman was dressed super fancy-like, slowly making her way down the steps. She looked very important, though the mouse had no idea who she was.

Whoever she was, she caught Dimitri's attention. Enough so that he hurried over to the car while the driver was assisting the woman, then hopped into the front seat while no one was looking. No one except Pinky that is. "Brain, Dimitri's stealing that car! _Narf!_" He cried out in alarm, pointing ahead of them! "Unless he's just borrowing it, but he didn't ask for permission."

"What are you...?" Brain jumped to his feet, instantly recognizing the woman, and grasped Pinky's arm. "Quickly, Pinky! We need to grab that car!"

"Well, did we ask for permission?" He asked as he was pulled up. "It's that nice lady's car, not ours!" The Grand Duchess, though Pinky had no idea that was who she was, slowly lowered herself into the car. "Oh, well, if she's riding with us- _zort!_"

"Thankfully, Pinky, one thing about love is always certain - one does the most insane things." And he had a very good idea what sort of insane thing Dimitri was up to. He jumped into the car at the duchess's feet with Pinky behind him, thankfully going unnoticed.

"Oh, I know all about that, Brain." Pinky giggled, at least knowing to be quiet as they snuck aboard the car.

"As many times as you've been in love, Pinky, I'm sure you know exactly," was the bitter response. Brain slipped underneath the seats to get to the front with Dimitri just as the idiot turned his head and revealed who he was.

While he was easily confounded, this definitely confused Pinky well beyond his normal range. What was Brain talking about? As far as he knew, he'd been in love once. And yes, his counting abilities did leave much to be desired, he still knew that once meant once. He followed his friend to the front of the car, intent on asking him to clarify, when Dimitri made a sharp turn and sent him tumbling into the passenger seat door. Then the only thoughts that filled his head were about how fun of a ride this was.

Brain just found it to be hectic - he slammed into the door - and painful. If they lived through this, he was going to kill Dimitri. They made several more rapid turns, Brain wondering if the human was trying to give the grand duchess whiplash, until an abrupt halt had him and Pinky smacking into the glovebox and sliding down to the floor below.

Dimitri swung open his door and got out of the car, quickly going around the back to the old woman. "You _have_ to talk to her. Just _look_ at her! _Please_!"

Brain lifted a hand to his head. "Why does everyone think 'please' gets them anywhere?"

"Because it's the magic word and magic makes everything sparkly?" Pinky asked as he shook out his own flattened head. "Troz!"

"You would think that," Brain muttered and made his way up the seat to peer over at the humans and make sure Dimitri didn't ruin anything else. If this didn't work, he was going to end up in prison.

Pinky scrambled up the seat right after him, his gaze going right to a little gold and green embellished object. He'd seen it before, on the ship. Now that he wasn't preoccupied, well... as preoccupied with Brain's grumpiness as he was before, he could properly admire the shiny object. "Naaaaaaaaaarf. What's that, Brain?" Pinky inquired, watching Dimitri hand the object over to the Empress.

"A jewelry box?" he suggested with a small shrug. He was more interested in the woman's reaction. "A rather important jewelry box."

"I know you've been hurt," Dimitri was saying. "But it's just possible that she's been as lost and alone as you."

The grand duchess looked from the box to the man. "You'll stop at nothing, will you?"

Dimitri rose to help her out of the car, a wry smile curving his lips. "I'm probably about as stubborn as you are."

"Yes!" Brain exclaimed, a little quieter than normal to keep from being noticed. Explaining their presence now would only distract, and the old woman was finally being mildly agreeable. As long as Anya did what she was supposed to do, everything would be fine again.

Pinky flashed a smile at the exclamation. Clearly he was in a good mood again, maybe there was hope yet for a rousing game of 'Chase Me'! Or at least another hug. And on top of that, Anya would get her family! And Brain would get the world! And he'd get to play with Pooka! This was turning out to be the best night ever.

The woman got out of the car and made to go inside to speak with her potential granddaughter. Dimitri did not follow, he stayed outside, opting to wait on her rather than push Anya any further. Pinky turned and slid down the seat, bouncing a bit on his landing. "Time to go in now, Brain?"

"Yes." Brain slid down along with him and went to the door to push it open. "I'm not going to risk these humans ruining the plan a second time." He looked up at the building as the door swung opened, nodded to a balcony. "She's opened the door. We'll scale the wall." He jumped out. "Come, Pinky."

"Right, Brain! _Zort!_" Pinky dashed out of the car alongside him. "After we reunite Miss Anya with her family and get your plan thingy working, will we get to do more romantic, Paris things?" He asked dreamily as they approached the wall of the hotel.

"I... Perhaps. But keep your mind on the plan, Pinky. We don't have time for fanciful detours." Neither of them had time, no matter what Pinky's question had triggered in his own mind. He latched onto a crack in the brick and started to climb. Being a mouse did have certain advantages.

Pinky climbed up the wall much faster than his friend, arriving on the balcony first, and peered into the room Anya had been delegated to stay in. Oh, wouldn't she be surprised her grandmummy was here to see her! She was packing up rather quickly, tossing things in the suitcase with little regard to them. He saw her glance at the flower, one of the ones Sophie handed out earlier, and Pinky felt a little warm as he remembered how he and Brain had spent their time in the montage following the flower.

Anya threw it in the trash and an uncomfortable lump formed in Pinky's throat. The sudden urge to wrap his arms around Brain and keep him close forever almost overwhelmed him, and he wanted nothing more than to share more kisses and be in love and be sure that the flower he gave him would never end up in a trash can. He swayed on the ledge a moment, then grabbed onto his tail and twisted it around in his hands.

Brain managed to pull himself up, grunting a bit at the effort. When he managed to get beside Pinky, he brushed off his sleeves and eyed the mouse. He didn't like how upset he looked, so sighed and laid a hand over one of Pinky's. "Pinky, what is it?"

"She threw away the flower, Brain." He looked down at their hands, his own still clenched around his tail. "Poit. They're not in love anymore." He wanted to look at Brain so badly, but he knew if he did he'd try to cuddle and Brain told him to think of the plan, but that was just terribly difficult at the moment. Well, it was difficult a lot of the time, but now especially because falling out of love was such a sad, sad thing.

Sighing, Brain lifted his hand to Pinky's shoulder instead to give it a pat. "They're still in love, Pinky. She's just upset." He wondered what had happened to the flower Pinky had given him and had a vague recollection of pressing it between the pages of his math book for safekeeping somewhere between the Eiffel Tower and the ballet. Montages and cuts - they left so much out.

The door opened and the grand duchess walked in, distracting him. "There she is. They'll be reunited and she'll be fine again."

Anya appeared shocked to see the woman in her room, having expected it to be Dimitri, and apologized for the way she greeted her. The Empress simply looked her over, while the girl tried to establish that she wasn't trying to trick her. She just wanted to find her family. To know who she belonged to.

Pinky looked up and watched the scene unfold, only becoming more upset when the duchess declared Anya to be a good actress and proceeded to leave the room and the disappointed orphan behind.

The Brain started to lean forward, intent on figuring out a way to block the old woman in. "Stupid humans," he muttered, but stopped as the grand duchess did when Anya recalled spilling a bottle of peppermint oil. He leaned back again with a satisfied smirk when the woman slowly took a seat on a padded bench. "There, Pinky."

"...oh, how I'd miss you when you went away... when you came back here... to Paris..." Anya held a hand to her head, a gesture reminiscent of Brain when Pinky said something particularly exasperating. She sat down beside the older woman, her fingers immediately playing with the necklace she refused to remove. 'Together in Paris', the key to the box Dimitri had found.

As the little music box opened, and their voices rose together in song, Pinky clasped his hands together and gave a happy little twirl. He bent down to squeeze Brain in a tight hug, rocking them from side to side. "They found each other, Brain! _Narf!_"

"Yes, they did." He rubbed his hands together, too focused to push the taller mouse away. And, well, he didn't mind it that much. He looked up, a small smile on his face. "Do you know what this means, Pinky?"

With an exuberant nod, Pinky pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Now she can go to all the family reunions! And make up with Dimitri! _Troz! _ And we can do more fun-fun happy things!" He nuzzled his companion as his good mood quickly inflated.

"Well..." That wasn't entirely wrong, though he supposed the warmth the nuzzling caused was affecting his mind. "Alright, yes, but most importantly the world is now within reach, Pinky!"

"Oh, right, right!" Pinky laughed, muffling it against Brain's neck. "Now you'll get to take over the world, Brain! And I get to help!" Which was always so much fun, though doing anything with Brain was a lot of fun really. "Ummm... what comes now?"

The proximity was definitely affecting his mind. He needed to make rules about this. World rulers needed clear heads. "There's really nothing else for us to do now, but accept the reward when it's offered." He considered, trying to lean away from Pinky to get his bearings. "That probably won't be until tomorrow or, irritatingly enough, the day after. This has to have time to reach the papers."

Stepping back a bit and clasping his hands behind his back, Pinky gazed at Brain curiously. "So... poit. There's no plan for the rest of tonight?"

Brain frowned, folding his arms. "No, Pinky, I suppose there isn't." Stuck in Paris for a night with nothing to do. The idea made his eye twitch. Wonderful.

Blue eyes lit up at the confirmation of his question, his arms seeking to wrap around one of Brain's and tugged lightly. "Can we go on another date doohicky then? _Zort!_ Only without all the spinning and paintings and mammoths?"

"Montage," he corrected, only the fact that he'd been with Pinky over a year helping him understand what "mammoths" was supposed to be. But then the rest of it caught up with him and he blinked several times. Stuck in Paris for a night with the very affectionate _Pinky_. Oh. "Well... I... I suppose an... outing isn't entirely out of the question."

"Oh, thank you, Brain!" Another quick hug preceded Pinky frolicking about on the balcony, spinning and twirling. "We can eat at a lovely restaurant or go dancing or- _narf!_ I know! See the pyramids!" He paused, balancing on one foot as he looked to Brain expectantly. "What would you want to do, Brain?"

Falling out of love or going back to being blissfully unaware of his feelings came to mind, but saying either aloud would only unduly hurt Pinky's feelings. "Since the pyramids are in Egypt and not Paris, we can rule those out." He waved a hand, deciding giving him a night to do as he liked wasn't too out of the question since they'd be ruling the world soon. "I suppose the night's activities can be up to you, Pinky."

"But Brain, you already let me see the beautiful ballet." Pinky turned in a rather graceful pirouette, lifting his arms up above his head. "And you work sooooo hard at taking over the world, I want to do something special for you!"

Brain thought a moment. The affectionate and rather sweet Pinky. "Hm. I suppose we could sneak into the _Louvre_. But we'll eat first." Somewhere without fatuous can-can dancers, he decided and started down. "Come, Pinky."

Appearing to radiate an uncontainable joy, Pinky skipped over to begin his descent as well. A dinner with Brain in the City of Love! And then a looove! Though he had no idea what it was, if Brain wanted to do it, then it was bound to be fun! "Oh, I love you, Brain! _Troz!_"

The sudden exclamation had his grip going slack, and the megalomaniac plummeted the rest of the way down. He missed the bushes entirely, face-planting in the grass directly beside them.

Deciding that Brain had the right idea, his way looked like much more fun, Pinky dropped down beside him. Oh, it _was_ loads of fun! He got to his feet and brushed himself off before helping Brain up. "Good idea, Brain!"

"Thank you," he muttered, leaning dizzily against his friend for a moment before he was able to shake it off. "Come along, Pinky. We'll see if we can hail a cab in this neighborhood."

"'Kay!" Pinky looped his arm around Brain's, in case he got dizzy again, And also because he just liked doing it. "We can always try rain or snow if hail doesn't work."

"Enough of that, Pinky, or I shall have to hurt you," he muttered, casting a suspicious glance at their joined arms before letting it be. At least this way he'd be able to keep Pinky from getting lost.

Barking out a laugh, Pinky just held on a little tighter as he tried to restrain himself. "Sorry, Brain!" He chortled, but at least had his free hand over his mouth. They came to the curb and Pinky took note of the lack of Dimitri, but surely he'd just gone inside to talk to Anya now that she was in a good mood.

Brain, however, was a little annoyed by the lack of his presence. If they couldn't hail a cab, he would've made for a decent second option. Besides that, he deserved at least a very firm talking-to after his behavior. He'd nearly ruined everything. Shaking his head, he started down the sidewalk towards the main city, bringing Pinky along. "Of course when I'd like a cut scene, they don't-"

-8-8-

"-occur." Brain looked around at the rather sudden scene change and rolled his eyes. An outdoor cafe in view of the Eiffel Tower. How... contrived. "Never mind, then," he muttered.

Pinky, on the other hand, looked around delighted. "Oh, what a lovely little place! And look, Brain!" He pointed right at the famous landmark. "The Colosseum!"

"That would be the Eiffel Tower, Pinky. The Colosseum's in Rome." A platter of bread and cheese was set in front of them and Brain had a very vague recollection of ordering. Ugh. Cut scenes. But he took a small square and watched Pinky's head swivel about in quiet amusement. For all their wild traveling, they rarely had time to do something as simple as sight-see.

While he was enthralled with the scenery, his nose immediately twitched as the scent of cheese registered. Humming as his blue gaze traveled from all the varying samples of snacks, Pinky hugged himself happily before tearing off a piece of bread. He selected the Etorki first and put the bold cheese on the bread. Munching with more cheerful humming, he smiled at Brain and waved from his seat, his whole body wiggling it seemed. A romantic date _and _cheese, well, he couldn't really ask for more.

"I'll assume you're enjoying it, then." He'd chosen a simple brie, his palate not nearly as bold as his cagemate's, and nibbled at it carefully. France and Switzerland - it was hard to find better cheese. Though the platter had been placed directly between them, so it made it a little harder to see Pinky properly. He scooted around it about halfway and tore off a piece of bread as if he'd come all this way simply for that.

The taller mouse nodded enthusiastically, polishing off his bread crumb. Oh, how he loved his cheeses! "It's the taste that pleases!" He giggled, tail swishing behind him. Brain's relocation did not escape his notice, however. In fact, it made his heart beat a tad bit faster. It was a romantic dinner after all, there were even candles! Pinky sidled over next to Brain, offering him some roquefort whilst nibbling on it himself.

Color rising in his cheeks, Brain gave Pinky and the cheese a sidelong glance. It seemed to be a rather personal offer, but this was technically a date. After a quick debate with himself, he took a hold of Pinky's wrist and took a small bite, leaning away again quickly. "That's... Er, thank you."

"Do you like it, Brain?" Pinky asked, lacing his fingers together right beneath his chin after popping the last of his cheese into his own mouth. Brain didn't usually eat as much cheese as he did, and all the different types and flavors and textures were some of the only things that actually remained rooted in his mind.

"Yes." And he was a little surprised by how much he did. He generally left the veined cheeses to Pinky, but even that small bite had held a flood of flavor. He looked up at Pinky, a ghost of a smile teasing his lips. "It was very good, actually."

"Hoorah! _Narf!_" Whether unconscious or intentional, Pinky's tail looped around Brain's as he helped himself to the selection of brie and another piece of bread.

Brain looked back at their tails, swallowed hard. He took another piece of the bread and a piece of cheese that he didn't exactly recognize. The vague plan in his mind felt a little manipulative, but he didn't think he could manage without some sort of logical reason. He took a careful nibble, blew out a quiet breath since he didn't actually recognize this kind.

Taking a hold of Pinky's wrist again, heart pounding, he lifted the morsel to Pinky's lips. "Pinky, ah, what kind is this?"

Mouth already full with bread and brie, Pinky took a moment to swallow, his eyes crossing as he tried to see what Brain was asking about. But he held it so low, he couldn't see past his own snout. It would be easier to taste it, since it was already being held to his lips. Careful of his fingers, he sampled the cheese and let the flavor coat his tongue thoroughly before humming thoughtfully. "Munster, I think." He smacked his lips, inadvertently brushing them against Brain's hand. "Poit. Mmhmm!"

Brain jerked his hand back, startled. But then color filled his cheeks and he looked away. That hadn't exactly worked as planned. "Oh. Well... Alright. Ah…" He rubbed his hand, staring at it. Romance was such a clichéd and hackneyed thing; it should be exceedingly simple to employ its tactics on a whim. However, with romance not necessarily being in his nature, Brain was a little lost.

He wasn't even entirely sure why he was _trying_ except that it would be rather nice to show Pinky that he didn't have to run off and fall in love with members of other species. He could have all the, ah, uncomfortable affection he wanted from The Brain himself. After all, they were going to be meeting quite a few new people once the world was theirs. He wanted to encourage Pinky to stay by his side.

His tail swished nervously, entangling even more with his sidekick's. It was painfully embarrassing to realize just how much he wanted Pinky to stay by his side. And with the world right at their fingertips, this night was really the only opportunity Brain had to convince Pinky to halt his promiscuous ways and stay with one partner. More specifically, to stay with him.

Pinky observed his reaction curiously. "Do you not like it, Brain?" The way his face got all red... it was like the angry-scowly face, but nothing had happened to make him mad. He very quickly glanced back at their tails, Brain's didn't usually swish that much, had he upset him somehow?

Wrapping his arms around Brain, he cuddled him close to try and make any bad feelings go away. His plan thingy was working, they were on a date together, there was no reason for Brain to not be happy! Unless the red face and the swishy tail meant something else entirely...

The cuddling was a step in the right direction, but Brain had no idea what exactly had generated it. Not entirely sure how to encourage it, the smaller mouse looked up. They were incredibly close. "No, it was... fine." He lifted a hand, hesitated a moment before giving Pinky a pat. They were incredibly close and there was candlelight. The ambiance should've been much more soothing than it was proving to be.

"You don't look very happy though. Poit." Pinky nuzzled him gently, then pulled away. "Is this a bad date? Am I doing it wrong?" Though he thought most of the kissy cuddly stuff came around dessert, maybe he was mistaken.

"No, Pinky, it's-" Brain wondered exactly how to get him back, lifted a hand to his head as if it would help him think. "You have me at a disadvantage, Pinky."

Blinking several times, Pinky scratched the top of his head as he tried to comprehend this. "I thought we were at a restaurant."

"No, Pinky." Brain looked up at him, the scowl chasing away much of the remaining blush. "I mean that you're better at certain romantic encounters." Though now that the words were out, he felt the blush returning and buried his face in his hands.

"Oh! _Narf! _ Is that all?" Relief swelled up within him, escaping as a breathless laugh. Pinky reached out to take Brain's hands in his, removing them from his face. "You're good at it too! You do all sorts of lovely things for me!" He leaned in and bumped their noses together. "You make me feel all bubbly and guuushy and... and poit!"

"And poit," he repeated, latching onto something that would help him stay irritated. It was much simpler to remain annoyed than deal with the much warmer feelings Pinky inspired. "But _how_? I haven't done anything, Pinky."

"Well, when you bop me on the head, but still let me help you try to take over the world even though I mess up a lot and make you all grumbly." He giggled, "And when you say nice things to me or let me do fun-fun silly-willy things like going to the ballet! Troz! And..." Pinky tried to duck his head, but forgot how close they were and their foreheads just ended up knocking together. "Oops." he blushed a little and his eyes met Brain's again. "And you're always here, Brain."

"I need your help in taking over the world, Pinky. You mess up often, yes, but you also indirectly give me some of my better ideas." He shrugged a little, trying to avert his gaze but unable to quite force himself to do so. "As for always being here, well... I... Where else would I be?" He really only had Pinky, whereas Pinky could have anyone he wanted. His ears fell back a little, grip on his friend's hands tightening.

"Oh, Brain!" Pinky nuzzled him as he laughed. "You're making me feel all tingly now too!" He said he _needed _him!

He didn't know what he'd done to do that, so gently nuzzled back. "Well... You're welcome."

Squeezing their hands together quickly, Pinky decided to listen to the tingly feelings and pressed his lips to Brain's. His face warmed, as well as the rest of him, and he was suddenly very conscious of the way their tails tangled together and how their hands fit and felt. "Naaaaarf." Somehow his eyes closed without him noticing, so he blinked them back open and smiled wide. "I love you, Brain."

"Pinky, I..." He leaned forward, touching their noses together. "It's difficult to think when you do that," he murmured. He suspected it was the fog hazing over his thought processes that had him shifting closer. The candlelight seemed to be doing its job after all.

"Do what, Brain?" Pinky whispered, his breath ghosting over his lips. He released Brain's hands to wrap his arms around his waist and pull him into his lap.

"Do... um..." He wrapped his arms around Pinky's neck, some part of him wondering if this was going to keep Pinky with him. But the majority of his mind agreed that it didn't matter since the mouse was with him right at that moment. "When you do this," he whispered and pressed their lips firmly together.

His heart felt like it stopped for a moment, but then it started to beat rapidly against his ribcage. Tightening his arms, he pulled Brain closer and returned the kiss with just as much resolve. Brain was right, it was hard to think. All he could really focus on were the feelings; the twisting in his tummy and the heat creeping up his neck and Brain pressed flush against him. All such wonderful feelings.

"Pinky," Brain breathed once air became a necessity. He stayed close, though, pretty sure that if he allowed any space between them his heart would be able to beat right out of his chest. And normally he'd be irritated that his first clear thought was something so ridiculous, but he couldn't quite drum up any irritation at the moment.

He whimpered once the kiss broke, not ready for it to end even though he required air too. At least Brain didn't pull away, their chests so close, they could feel one another's heartbeat. "Brain..." Pinky sighed, tone full of contentment just from saying his name alone.

It was a good thing they were about to take over the world or this would be extremely distracting to future plans. He rubbed their noses together gently, stroking Pinky's back. Rational thought was beginning to return, color rising in his cheeks as he realized just what was going on and that he had absolutely no idea what to do next. Brain was certainly unused to not having a plan.

Practically purring, Pinky rested his chin on Brain's shoulder. Oh, this was a good date. He reached up to tweak one of Brain's ears as he pondered the next part of dates. Brain had said he wanted to go to... that one place, so they'd do that and then... and then what came next? He was rather distracted by the hands on his back, though, even if he wasn't distracted he wasn't sure if he'd remember. He really needed to start writing important things like this down.

"Brain? Did you still want to go to... to the Luge?" He asked softly while tracing the edge of his ear.

"_Musée du Louvre_," he murmured absently, ear twitching from the attention. He didn't particularly want to go anywhere, not when he could keep so close. But they were in public. Even if this _was_ Paris, so much public affection was bound to start making him uncomfortable. "Ah... Yes. It's a pyramid," he supplied. Pinky had mentioned them earlier, hadn't he?

"I like pyramids," he giggled into the side of Brain's neck, inhaling his scent with each breath. "But not as much as kissing. Or cheese." He added as an afterthought, lifting his head up to look him in the eyes. "It'll keep being a date there, right? With more hugs like this?" Pinky clarified, of course, he'd still go even if they didn't get to continue since it was something Brain wanted to do.

"I believe dates generally follow the set formula of combining a meal and a separate outing besides." Brain toyed with the fur at the nape of Pinky's neck, blush deepening as he became more and more aware of their surroundings. "So yes, it'll still be a date. And more... hugs are likely to occur."

Reflexively tucking in his chin, Pinky tried to muffle his laughter by clamping his lips closed. It tickled terribly when Brain did that. As he squirmed, he nodded and released a few small, suppressed snickers of amusement. "_Zort! _ Oh good!"

"Yes. Good." He abruptly realized that they'd more than likely end up being alone throughout the museum. It left lots of time for more of this. Lots of time in a private location for more of this. "Well... Shall we go?"

Pinky nodded, though stopped suddenly and glanced sidelong at the cheese. He snatched one more piece and shoved it in his mouth quickly, then resumed the nodding. "Ready, Brain! _Narf!_"

* * *

skimmingsurfaces dA AN:

Brain and Pinky are on a date! Brain still has some reserves about Pinky's promiscuity though... will our insipid- I mean, intrepid hero be able to convince him that he's the only one in his heart? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? The world may never know... though, you will find out if Pinky and Brain get to be on the same page! Troz! Enjoy!

* * *

Do you see why she's my Pinky? XD What kind of AN is that? A brilliant one, to be sure. Poit :D


	8. Chapter 8

Two, two, TWO chapters in one!

Day that is~

* * *

And the magical power of cutscenes transported them right to the _Louvre_. "I like this! It's so much faster than walking!" Pinky chirped, though he was disappointed to find that the cheese he'd brought with him had long since been swallowed.

"Yes. They do have their purposes." Thankfully, Brain felt a little calmer for whatever reason, so beckoned Pinky to follow him. "Come, Pinky. It's closed as I thought. We'll have to sneak beneath the doors."

"Oooh, sneaking! I feel just like the three fairies in _Sleeping Beauty_ when they go to rescue the prince!" Pinky followed, dancing and spinning his way over to the door. "Except we don't have wings and I really don't mind if the dress is pink or blue, Brain."

"Pinky, I'm sure you would wear something with tye-dye if it fit you." Brain ducked beneath the door, scowling as his head got stuck beneath the narrow opening. "And isn't our height prominent enough without you comparing us to fairies?"

Pinky slipped beneath the door with ease, then helped pull Brain through. "Oh, no, Brain! Tye-dye can be so clashy! And who doesn't like fairies? They're sparkly!" Both bounced a bit after he emerged on the other side with a pop. Getting to his feet, he craned his neck back so he could take in the room they were in. "Naaaaaaarf... umm, Brain? What is the Loon?"

"Originally, it was a fortress." He rubbed his head to make sure it was its usual shape and size. "But now it's an art museum. Ah..." He offered a hand hesitatingly. "Come, Pinky."

Without waiting a beat, Pinky took his hand and fell into step beside him, cautious of his natural urge to skip around. He couldn't very well prance and hold onto Brain's hand, he'd tried before and he knew his friend didn't like being jostled so. "Are we going to see lots of paintings, Brain?"

"Yes. But there are various works of sculpture here too." He entwined their fingers, attempting to be casual about it, but his blush betrayed him. "Such as Antonio Canova's _Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss_." No idea why that in particular had leapt into his mind, Brain gave a small shrug. "We won't have to go through the entire thing, of course."

"Oh, it sounds romantic!" Pinky gushed, placing his free hand to his cheek as he giggled. Cupid and kissing, this was going to be fun! He squeezed Brain's hand gently, smiling down at their interlaced fingers. "Which part of the museum did you want to go to first, Brain? You get to pick the first paintings or sculpty-things!"

"We can just go on from where we are, Pinky, and see what we see. We have the _Louvre_ to ourselves, after all, for as long as we like." Brain shifted a little closer, wondering how to casually initiate some sort of embrace while they walked.

"'Kay!" Pinky leaned into Brain as he felt him shift closer. Enthralled with the paintings hanging high up, near the ceiling, he wondered how they found a ladder tall enough to get them up there. And weren't they worried what would happen if they fell? Still, the colors and the people were pretty enough to look at. Several times he closed his eyes and looked away, feeling rude for seeing some of the figures in exposed states of dress.

"Pinky, if you can't look at all the paintings, you'll never be able to look at the sculptures. The majority of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman sculptors celebrated the human body for some... odd reason. The majority of them are nudes."

Pinky opened one eye to peer at Brain. "But I didn't get their permission. Isn't it rude to stare at people who are naked and not mice? _Zort._"

"Well, yes, but by allowing themselves to be preserved in these works of art they're giving indirect permission." Brain gave his hand a careful squeeze. "It seems to rather be the point of these ancient works."

Allowing both eyes to remain open, Pinky nodded in understanding. "Okay, as long as they don't mind."

"They don't, Pinky. I'm sure the models used would be flattered to know their likenesses were still being viewed and will, in all likelihood, be viewed for years." Brain looked up at the paintings as they passed, pausing at the _Mona Lisa_. He released Pinky's hand in order to climb up one of the poles that roped the small painting off from sticky fingers.

Pinky stared up at the painting for a moment, he rather liked that she was wearing her clothes. He scaled the the pole right after Brain, though he chose to slide along the velvet rope and sit suspended in the middle as he gazed at the work of art. "You like this one, Brain? _Troz._"

"It confuses me, Pinky. It's arguably one of da Vinci's most famous works." He frowned, folding his arms. "She's smiling that little bit and no one knows why, no one knows who she is. It's the mystery of her that intrigues so many."

"Maybe she just liked that someone wanted to paint a picture of her!" Pinky suggested, swinging a little on the rope, kicking his legs back and forth. "It probably made her feel pretty. Poit. Or special."

"Hm." It was certainly the simplest explanation he'd ever heard. "Your ability to, as they say, cut to the heart of the matter is a continual surprise, Pinky. Now come. There's more to see."

He slid off the velvet and to the floor, grabbing onto Brain's hand once again. "Oh, fun-fun silly-willy!" As he looked around at the other paintings, he paused to admire _Madonna on the Rocks_, finding the babies adorable. "Aw, look, Brain!"

It was another of da Vinci's works. Another piece of timeless works of art. "We're going to be in paintings, Pinky." He laced their fingers again, a gleam in his eye. "Portraits done by the masters of our day that will last as long as these will last."

"Naaaaaaaarf." Pinky gasped, putting his other hand on top of their already joined ones. "Oh, can we be dressed in our pictures though, Brain? _Zort._ I am rather shy about my figure."

Mind on the things that would be done once the world was theirs, Brain gave Pinky an absent pat with his free hand and spoke without thinking. "You have nothing to be shy about, Pinky. You have an excellent figure."

Pinky's eyes grew wide, his grip tightening without his direct knowing. "You really think so, Brain? _Narf!_ Oh, thank you!" He swept him up in a tight embrace, spinning them around for a moment before depositing him back on the ground. "Maybe I won't try that wheat grass diet after all."

"Wheat grass diet?" His words catching up with him, Brain's cheeks colored and he flicked Pinky's nose in defense. "I highly doubt you could go a day without cheese. Besides, dieting is a waste of time, the practice incredibly hackneyed." And his own failed dieting attempts had nothing at all to do with that opinion.

"What? You mean I wouldn't be able to eat cheese on a wheat grass diet?" Pinky gaped at him in horror. "Egad, Brain! I don't think I can do it!" His hands clutched at his face, but then he remembered that Brain said he had a good figure, so it was a moot point. "Poit." He lowered his hands, the frantic mood dissipating, as he held onto one of Brain's again.

He had the mood swings of a hormonal teenager, Brain reflected, shaking his head. "Yes, well, to answer your previous question - you can wear whatever you like in our portraits, Pinky. We'll be ruling the world, after all." He looked down at their hands, resisted the childish urge to shuffle his feet. "You'll still be by my side, won't you?"

The blue dress and the boa immediately came to mind, inwardly giggling when he recalled Brain's expression and the order to change, whilst allowing him to keep it. However, the question that followed mixed up his mind a little. Pinky gave their hands a squeeze. "Of course, Brain, where else would I be?" He mimicked Brain's answer from earlier, smiling warmly at his friend. "I mean, poit, unless you told me to go away, but then I'd still miss you tons! I always do when we're not together."

"But there are... Or there will be... others." Frowning, The Brain looked up. "That is to say, once we take over the world we'll be meeting plenty of people from a multitude of species. You fall in love so easily, Pinky. Someone's bound to attract your attention and take you from me."

"I..." Oh, how Pinky wished Brain had used more big words, then he could pretend he didn't understand what he was saying and ignore the sharp pain he felt in his chest. He... The Brain didn't trust him?

He released his hand to seek something to twist and wring, his tail made for a good twistable thing. "I... I love _you_, Brain..." Did he really think he'd just fall in love with someone else? Pinky himself couldn't imagine it, couldn't imagine life with anyone except Brain. He must've done a horrible job of conveying his everlasting-forever-always love to him if he was doubting it.

"You _say_ that, but what about the horse and the sea lion? You cried over whatever her name was. And now there's the mutt!" Brain lifted both hands to rub at his temples, hoping to banish the headache that was trying to form. Why were they even having this conversation? Why on earth had he brought this up? "I'm clearly incapable of proper romance," he muttered unhappily.

"But... they're just my friends, Brain... for..." 'For when you're busy and don't want to play with me' couldn't seem to make it past the lump wedged in his throat. He adored his friends, yes, but if he had to choose between them and Brain, why there was no contest whatsoever! Focusing his eyes on the ground once things started to get blurry, Pinky fought back the tears and lowered his ears. He was a bad boyfriend if Brain didn't think he loved him as much as he said, and now he'd gone and made him angry. "I want to go home now, Brain." He took a step backwards, folding his arms behind his back and keeping his face angled towards the floor.

Just friends. Brain turned that over in his mind, but stepped forward when Pinky moved back and reached out a hand. "No, Pinky, don't cry..." He moved close enough to lift a hand to his friend's cheek. "We can..." He'd ruined it. This romance tripe was supposed to be _simple_. "We can't go home. We can return to the hotel if... that's what you'd like. Just don't cry."

Telling him _not_ to cry just made him want to cry _more_. "But you think-" Pinky's breath hitched as a few stray tears splashed his fur. "You think I don't- I'm sorry, Brain!" He covered his eyes, so Brain wouldn't have to see him crying if he didn't want to. "Please don't be upset!" Coming from the visibly and audibly upset mouse, it was almost comical that he was trying to do the consoling. "I'll be better, promise!" He wouldn't even play "I Spy" with Pooka if it meant upsetting him. He wouldn't play with Pooka at all if that's what it took.

Brain looked around a little frantically, trying to figure out something that would make his companion feel better. He simply didn't know what to do; Pinky's tears tore him to pieces. Finally, with a desperate sound, Brain latched onto his shoulders and pulled him down so he could wrap his arms around Pinky's neck. "Don't do that, Pinky. Please. I'm not upset, just don't cry. You can have your friends."

Pinky latched onto him immediately, dropping down so it was easier to hug and hold. "You think I don't love you as much as I say! That's an awful good reason to be upset, Brain, I'd be upset with me too!" He blubbered, nevermind that he was in fact in a very despondent frame of mind. Clinging to Brain seemed to calm him down, his wailing becoming nothing more then shaky hiccups and quiet sniffles, his tears still staining the fur of his cheeks.

"Oh, Pinky, I do think you love me." It was just a matter of how long he'd continue to do so. He rubbed their cheeks together gently, ignoring the transfer of tears. "I doubt anyone loves me as much as you do." Which was the truth, considering the fact that Pinky was his only friend. He was fairly certain that his own parents didn't even love him. "I'm s- I'm s- I didn't mean to reduce you to tears."

Blue eyes still glossy and red-rimmed from crying, Pinky blinked and sniffled as he turned to look at Brain. "Really?" He asked, in regard to the first statement, though it could be applied to the second one too. As far as his apology, Pinky just nodded, well-aware that Brain would never make him cry on purpose. That just wouldn't be very nice. "I know, Brain... poit." He nuzzled back, wanting to be extra affectionate to ensure Brain wouldn't think he'd go anywhere.

He wasn't entirely sure what went to what, more distressed than his mind was comfortable dealing with, but went with it. Everything he'd said had been true on some level. He nuzzled just below his ear, cautiously pressing a gentle kiss to the spot. "Yes, Pinky, really," he murmured. "Don't cry anymore now."

His ear twitched, while he just buried his face against Brain's neck, inhaling deeply. His eyes were no longer overflowing, the tears at bay. "'Kay..." Pinky sighed, his own lips moving against his fur in light kisses.

"Good." Brain shivered despite the warmth the kisses generated. He pulled back a little, sliding his hands to Pinky's cheeks, and touching their noses together. "You are... very important. To me." The admittance was a little stilted, but it was sincere.

Pinky rubbed his nose against Brain's, his tail and ears both lifting a little. It made his head all tingly to hear that. The residual sadness chased away. "You're important to me too." He replied, but thought better of it and then tacked on: "For always." He would not let Brain be mistaken again.

"I..." Brain nodded carefully, keeping close. Quietly, he promised himself that he wouldn't bring up those doubts again. At least not until/unless Pinky drifted away. For now, he'd simply... enjoy it. "Yes, always." Surely someone who'd remained with him through all his failures would remain through his success?

A weight seemed to lift from his chest as Brain agreed with him. Squeezing him a little extra for a moment, Pinky waited a beat or two before pulling away. His neck was starting to get stiff, but he also still wanted to go back to the hotel, emotionally drained from his ups and downs of the evening. And perhaps when they got to their room they could snuggle more. His hand sought out Brain's and he held on tightly. "Can we go back to the hotel now, Brain? Poit."

Brain looked down at their joined hands, slowly lifting his gaze to meet Pinky's. The odd combination of guilt and relief, hope and despair was making his head throb. "Yes, Pinky, we can."

He managed a small smile, feeling his mood lift steadily, then leaned in to brush their lips together in a quick kiss. Kissing was supposed to make everything better, and Pinky certainly couldn't deny that it didn't make him a little extra happy inside whenever their lips met. Hopefully it cheered Brain up too, he still seemed upset. He gave him another just for good measure. Well, if the kisses didn't work, then bedtime cuddling would do the trick. Supposedly it made people even happier than kissing.

"If you do that now, it'll take us an inordinately long amount of time to return to the hotel." But Brain leaned forward for another light kiss before stepping back. He gave his friend's hand a careful squeeze. "Come, Pinky."

"'Kay!" He returned the squeeze as he made to follow, decently convinced that he'd cheered up Brain a little bit. "We can do it later, right? _Zort._ Once we're at the hotel?" It was important that they were on the same page. Pinky didn't think he could handle any more misunderstandings for the night, so he'd do best to pay attention.

Brain ducked his head in an attempt to hide the renewed blush. Alone in a hotel room with Pinky and his mind-fogging kisses - it was dangerous ground, certainly, but he was sure he could handle it. "Yes, of course."

"_Narf!_" He chirped, wiggling elatedly in attempt to reign in the desire to nuzzle his friend. Pinky could wait, he didn't want to hinder their progress. Though, he supposed one of those spinny-scene thingies could easily take care of that.

-8-8-

He hadn't exactly been able to handle it, which was largely why The Brain instructed Pinky to remain with Vlad while he went with Dimitri alone at the grand empress's summons the following day. It was difficult to concentrate on what he'd say to the woman when his thoughts stuttered to a halt each time Pinky smiled at him. Considering Pinky's naturally giddy nature, that event had been occurring with alarming regularity throughout the morning.

It was a bit easier to focus now that Pinky was elsewhere and he was on the oddly silent Dimitri's shoulder (even though he still admittedly thought of his partner more often than necessary). He didn't quite have all the kinks of his speech worked out when they entered the empress's study, but let it go for the moment. His rhetoric was a natural ability and he had little doubt that whatever he said would be found charming by the old woman.

Dimitri bowed, Brain scowling as he had to cling to the lapels of the human's jacket. "You sent for me, Your Grace?"

She gestured to a case filled with bills, and Brain began to rub his hands together, unable to contain all of his glee. "Ten million rubles, as promised with my gratitude."

"I accept your gratitude, Your Highness..." This was it as long as the human remembered his presence. "But I-I don't want the money."

Brain stilled for a moment, his gaze shooting to his face. _What?_

"What _do_ you want, then?" the woman asked, expression suggesting that she already knew the answer.

"Unfortunately, nothing you can give." He bowed again, though the dip wasn't nearly as low. Otherwise, the mouse would've simply toppled to the carpet in shock. He wasn't taking _anything_, which meant The Brain would get nothing as well. That stupid, stupid human!

He didn't even pay attention as the empress came closer, realizing just who Dimitri was. Just like that, the world was out of his grasp once more. He and Pinky would have to- How was he supposed to concentrate on plans now that he and Pinky were, for lack of a better word, involved? There would have to be rules. Very very strict rules.

"Why the change of mind?" the empress wondered.

"It was more... a change of heart." Brain's ears flopped. This was _love's_ fault. Oh, of course it was! He should've known! But he hadn't expected Dimitri to grow a conscience. Drat. When they saw Anya - er, Anastasia on the stairs on the way back down, it was very difficult not to growl at her. He settled for a simple glare that was ignored entirely as she and Dimitri had a heated discussion.

And then, as Dimitri finally left the staircase and rounded a corner, he seemed to remember The Brain's presence. "Listen, about our deal..."

"Oh, _now_ you remember!" The _world_. It had nearly been theirs. Foiled by love. Ugh.

* * *

I love how much Brain fails at something as simple as a date :heart: He's so cute  
Until, y'know, he totally and completely hurts poor Pinky's feelings D:  
At least his issues are all aired out now and he can be secure in the knowledge that Pinky loves only him! Poit. Maybe XD It is The Brain, after all~

And, poor him, foiled by love XD How dastardly


	9. Chapter 9

While Pinky waited for Brain to come back he had wanted to watch Anya try on her fancy new dress and get all made up for the big party, but he'd been given specific instructions to stay with Vlad, so stay with him he did. Although he ended up having to perch himself high up on a shelf to stay out of reach of Pooka. He'd tried to explain to the puppy that they needed to tone down their friendship, that it made Brain feel sad to see him playing with him so regularly and affectionately, but Pooka just started licking him, which tickled terribly, sending him running about in search of hiding places. But there were only so many places one could hide while following directions, and Pooka just thought it was another game of hide-and-seek.

Luckily, the pup had to be primped and dressed up as well, which Vlad saw to as he decorated himself with various medals. Pinky peered down at him, already dressed up for the party, he and Brain got ready at the hotel in their little suits. He'd really wanted to bring the boa this time, but it seemed to just make The Brain all flustered. Which seemed to be happening quite a bit since the previous night.

Pinky took a few moments to daydream about their activities, still all a-flutter, a goofy grin on his face as his heart sped up a little. Oh, he did love Brain so, so much. He couldn't wait until he came back from meeting with the Grand Eclair, maybe he'd let them dance together at the party. A light blush painted his cheeks and he hugged himself tightly. And surely he'd be pleased that he wasn't... how would Brain put it? Fooling around with that mutt? Something like that. Maybe once Brain was happily ruling the world and sure that Pinky loved him most of all, he wouldn't mind him playing so much.

"You look FABULOUS!" Vlad's exclamation startled Pinky out of his ponderings, sending him crashing from his seat to the floor. He'd been addressing Pooka, who was now dolled up in a little harness with a sword and crown as Vlad set him on a pedestal beside the mirror. Pinky had to admit that Pooka looked awfully precious as a little puppy prince, once the room stopped spinning and he lowered the amount of Pookas he was looking at to four. Or was that three?

Entering the room, Dimitri cleared his throat to get Vlad's attention. "Well. If you're ever in St. Petersburg again, look me up." He took a step forward, clasping Vlad's hand.

When the handshake became a hug, Brain leapt from one shoulder to the other and then down to the table Pooka was still seated at. He'd expected Pinky to be with the mutt and was a bit surprised that he wasn't. "Are the two of you playing some insipid game?" he wondered and got a full-bodied lick for the effort. "Ugh."

"Brain!" Pinky sat up quickly, so quickly that he just toppled over onto his back, his head still dizzy. But he laughed through it and tried again more slowly, waving to the mouse on the pedestal once he situated himself. "_Narf!_ Down here!" He was so fixated on Brain that the conversation between the two humans didn't resonate with him at all. While Vlad advised Dimitri that he was making a terrible mistake, Pinky simply beamed up at his cagemate with that same adoring smile he'd been subjecting Brain to all morning.

He could feel the blush starting to rise, so rubbed a hand over his face to avoid seeing the expression. Was it possible to make rules about smiles? He was certain there was, but he was equally as certain that Pinky wouldn't follow them. He took a leap from the table and brushed himself off as he went towards his friend, scowling. "We've been ruined, Pinky."

Patting his hands up and down his body to see if anything had gone awry, Pinky cast Brain a perplexed look. "I think we're still normal, Brain." He reached out to pat him as well, just in case appearances were deceiving him. "Poit. Yep! You still look rather fetching to me!"

The bop Brain delivered was less harsher than originally intended thanks to the compliment, but the inanity of the response still deserved punishment of some kind. "No, Pinky, the _plan_. Dimitri didn't take the reward, which meant that _I_ couldn't. He's ruined it yet again and it's that _girl's_ fault!"

Pinky rubbed the top of his head, switching the focus of his gaze to Dimitri. The man had stopped to pet Pooka, saying goodbye to the forlorn pup, appearing rather morose himself albeit feigning a smile. "He doesn't look very happy, Brain. I thought he and Miss Anya made up." It took him a minute or two to comprehend Brain's complete displeasure. "Whuu- can't you ask Miss Anya to let you have the reward? She's letting Vlad dress up all fancy, I'm sure she'd let you too. _Troz._" He suggested in an attempt to console him.

"Of course they didn't make up, Pinky. He's returning to St. Petersburg tonight and we're-" The original plan had been that he and Pinky would go along with him, but as Pinky's words registered his scowl faded. He grasped the mouse's shoulders, dragging him down to eye level. "That's _brilliant_, Pinky!" He'd been entirely too caught up in the moroseness of failure to have not thought of such a simple solution. "We'll discuss it with her at the party."

"Hooray!" He cheered, tail wagging and his cheeks coloring with the pleasure of knowing he helped. But then the first part of what Brain said caught up with him. "Wait, poit, Dimitri's leaving? But, but they're in _love_!"

"Well, yes, they are. But she's a princess and he's a servant. Or was, at any rate." Brain shrugged; it was obvious enough to him and maybe things would go smoother if Dimitri wasn't around to screw things up. "He's leaving so she can have her family."

"But that's so sad!" Pinky sniffled; if people who were in love were leaving each other, no wonder Brain thought he wouldn't stick around! Such bad influences. He'd have to have a stern talking to with Dimitri about the importance of love!

"It's reality, Pinky." Though something about that statement felt oddly ironic. "Not everyone can have a happy ending."

He looked over when Dimitri knelt beside them, a hand offered. "You two coming?"

"We have other plans," Brain informed him.

Pinky on the other hand frowned up at him, his pout clearly present and his brow knit together in a stern manner. "Hey, Mr. Runaway Train! You can't just leave when the tough gets going! Love is a very very very-_narf!_-very serious thing! You can't question every bop to the head or every umm... _zort!_ Life is like a box of chocolates, after all, you've got to bite into every one of them and some of them are really icky but if you don't try them you'll never find the really tasty ones!" His arms crossed as he nodded resolutely, overall convinced by his own argument.

Dimitri smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Pinky. I'm leaving because it's a serious thing." He rose, giving the two a nod. "Good luck," he said before stepping over them to leave.

Sighing, Brain gave his side a pat. "It was a decent attempt."

Ears wilting and jaw dropping, he'd been so sure that his speech would work!, Pinky watched Dimitri's exit with sinking spirits. "But... but, _why?_ Poit." True love was supposed to solve everyone's problems! Not chase people away. He yanked Brain tightly against his side, his hug practically smothering and desperate. "This isn't how the story is supposed to go! What about 'happily ever after'?" He cried out.

"Pinky!" he gasped, hardly able to breathe. "Let go!"

He complied, but his upset didn't diminish. "But Brain! He's making you think bad things!"

Pooka, bearing witness to Pinky's unsettled mood, leapt down from the table and slid over to the pair of mice. Before Pinky could protest, the puppy gave him a long, wet lick up his front. An attempt to play with the typically chipper mouse no doubt.

"No, Pooka!" Pinky pushed his nose away, unable to look at his friend as he chastised him.

A little taken aback, Brain looked from the mutt to the mouse. "You usually enjoy being licked, Pinky. Does Dimitri's departure upset you that much?"

The puppy whined softly, and Pinky found it very hard to resist apologizing and give him a hug. But if it was for Brain, he would. "No, I don't like it." He folded his arms behind his back as he lied, jumping at the chance to bring it back around to the two humans. It was awfully hard to to lie. "And I just don't want Miss Anya and Dimitri to break their hearts. It sounds painful, Brain."

Brain wrapped a hand around Pinky's snout, jerking him down. "I _know_ you like to be licked, Pinky." The realization of just how personal that may sound out of context had color rising in his cheeks. Still, he pressed on. He didn't want Pinky to start behaving stranger than his normal levels of ludicrousness, particularly since he'd clearly hurt Pooka's feelings. That was so out of character for his big-hearted, soft-headed companion. "Don't lie to me."

Face to face with Brain, Pinky knew he couldn't keep up the act. Especially with his pretty pink eyes boring into his own. They weren't very happy. "But, Brain, I don't want to make you all mad and sad and lonely." He chanced a glance over to Pooka, but it was brief for he couldn't keep his eyes from being drawn back to Brain. "So, I won't like it anymore. _Troz._"

"Pinky..." It wasn't often that something he said stuck in Pinky's mind. "You told me Pooka's only your friend, and I believe you." Brain touched their noses together, rubbed gently. Soft-hearted idiot. "Go play with him. I need to discuss policy with Vlad as it is."

"Really, Brain?" Pinky's ears lifted, his eyes lighting up as he brushed his nose right back.

"Yes, really." He lifted his hands to straighten Pinky's bowtie as it gave him an excuse to stay nearby. "Pinky, you have the biggest heart in all the world. Don't try and change that. I like you as you are."

Pinky blinked at Brain, his eyes growing wide. He knew he liked him, he really did. But he didn't _hear_ it all that often. His heart fluttered in his chest as he gave Brain one of his gentlest hugs. It wasn't often he received sincere compliments from his most important person, so he drank it all in with a soft nuzzle. "Thank you, Brain." Pinky sighed, affection coating his tone. "I love you."

Brain leaned into the embrace, sighing quietly at the nuzzle. Pinky's general hugs were exuberant and wild, so the gentle touch was a pleasant surprise and the words warmed him more than he wanted to admit. "I... I know you do, Pinky." He reached up, stroked the curve of Pinky's ear. "Go play now. You need to work off your excess energy since you'll need to behave at the party."

Nodding, Pinky released him while bearing a broad smile. "Right, Brain! _Narf!_" He offered up a salute before whirling around to face the puppy who still observed them, waiting for his friend to be ready to play. "Pooka! Let's play hide and seek, 'kay?" An excited bark confirmed that he approved of this idea. "You hide first!"

Brain shook his head before climbing up to the tabletop to ask Vlad more about the imperial court and its members. Or what remained of them.

-8-8-

Miss Anya had yet to reveal herself to the congregation, tentatively peering out from behind the curtain concealing her. Pinky didn't know why she wasn't out and dancing with everyone else, the party was in her honor after all. She must really have missed Dimitri, though he didn't blame her for that. You didn't just leave when you loved somebody, you made it work!

There wasn't much time for him to dwell on this particular train of thought, far too distracted by the way Brain had suggested they dance along with the rest of the nobles. Mingle, was the term he'd used, but Pinky wasted no time in sweeping him up and sashaying away. Nuzzling him gently, pressing their cheeks together as he spun, dizzy from both the dancing and the relief that Brain no longer worried about his friends. It had kept his spirits high all day, doing the opposite of Brain's hopes that he'd calm down after playing with Pooka, he was only more excited and giddy.

But perhaps he should slow their dance down, keep Brain more inclined to let it continue. Besides, making himself dizzy certainly wouldn't do any good, he'd fall on his face and then the dance would be over. Slowing the tempo into a waltz reminiscent of the one on the boat, Pinky forgot about Miss Anya's strange behavior and focused instead on the weight and warmth of Brain.

Leave it to Pinky to slow down as the music's tempo sped up, but Brain was immeasurably thankful for it nonetheless. He was positive that he wouldn't be able to walk straight if Pinky were to set him down, which was one of the only reasons he hadn't demanded to be put down in the first place. There was also the fact that without Pinky's dumb luck and odd sense of timing, he probably would've been squished on his own.

And, well, he did enjoy being pressed so close. He closed his eyes to help steady himself and sighed quietly. They weren't doing much mingling; Brain was fairly certain that the pair of them hadn't even been noticed. If Anya would just show herself, that had the potential to change. His eyes opened so he could make sure that she indeed hadn't come out yet, and gave Pinky a nuzzle to make sure he had the taller mouse's attention. "Pinky, you're getting too far from the thrones again."

"Oh. _ Narf._ Sorry, Brain." Pinky giggled, twirling his way back over the thrones. He got decently close, enough so he could see Pooka and how bored the puppy looked. Maybe after they took over the world he'd help him find a date too. Then he could have someone to dance with.

Brain resisted the urge to scowl at the dog. A mutt at the thrones - it was just another reason to overthrow the humans. He ignored the irritating voice in his head that pointed out how likely Pinky was to do the same type of thing. It didn't matter as much when it was Pinky. He tightened his hold on his partner, rubbing their cheeks together.

Making a happy little sound, Pinky stroked up and down Brain's back, almost closing his eyes. "Brain..." Whatever he was going to say, because there had been something on his mind, was instantly forgotten in the face of a small green glow. His eyes widened as he tried to place the little flying bat-like creature, it was over near Pooka, startling him from his boredom. Gradually, Pinky came to a stop, his head muscles hurting from his attempts to pinpoint the thing. Suddenly it snatched Pooka's smart little harness right off him, several of its little friends helping it carry the thing away.

Pooka barked in protest and Pinky remembered being on the train and the boat as well. The green glowing things had been trying to mess up their trip. As the puppy darted behind the curtain after them, Pinky dropped Brain in his own panic. "Brain! It's those glowing thingies again! _Zort! _ They took Pooka's outfit!" He hurried after his friend, those green bats had been awfully tricky, he didn't want him to be alone with them.

The glowing thingies? Brain had thought that particular delusion was behind them; he hadn't heard anything more about them since the train. Pinky's imaginings rarely repeated themselves like this. He got back to his feet and went after him, scowling. "Pinky, stop it!" The dog was barking, running right out the French doors behind the throne area. Wonderful. A shared delusion. "We don't have time for this!"

"Pooka!" Anya had noticed her dog's agitation, somewhat grateful for the distraction as she still seemed unsure whether to join the party or remain behind the curtain. She picked up her dress, lightly jogging over to the doors to try and call him back again.

Pinky grabbed onto the large skirt of Anya's dress, looking over his shoulder at Brain. "But those thingies are mean, Brain! They might hurt him! They tried to make our train stop and they tried to get Miss Anya on the boat!"

"What in the world are you talking about?" Brain jumped, grabbing the dress and making his way closer to Pinky. They were headed into the back gardens now, the area a veritable maze. "This is ridiculous!"

"The green thingies, Brain! I told you about them, poit." Well, to be fair, he'd quite forgotten about them on the boat and hadn't told Brain about them, but that didn't mean they hadn't been there too. He knew he'd seen them... he just didn't know or notice where they'd disappeared to. "Remember? Pooka and I saw them on the train, and then they came back on the boat right before Miss Anya and I went outside in the rain. I forgot to tell you that time, but they were there too!"

Anya had picked up the pace, losing sight of Pooka and having to rely on only his barks as she entered the maze. Pinky let go of the dress with one hand to hold onto Brain, they were being jostled about quite a bit and he didn't want him to fall.

She spun around suddenly, discovering that the opening in the grass wall had suddenly overgrown. Eyes widening, Brain latched onto Pinky. There was a green glow to their left, Pooka's barking coming from that direction. So Anya continued. "What on earth...?" Brain muttered, _highly_ displeased and more than willing to ignore any fear. Well, he was trying to do that at any rate.

"Pooka!" Pinky cried out, hearing the pup's distressing barks made him feel chilled inside. The green glowed faded suddenly, shrouding the maze in darkness. Anya gasped softly, spinning around as the wind whispered around them. Pinky tightened his grip on Brain, his ears plastering themselves to his head.

The barking came closer, and Anya sighed in relief as she saw Pooka emerge from around the corner. "Pooka, there you are." She crooned, to reassure both the puppy and herself as she knelt down to pick him up.

Pinky also released a breath he hadn't been aware of holding, the uneasiness subsiding for now despite their predicament. With Pooka safe in Anya's arms they could leave now. But a harsh whisper echoed all around them, startling the princess into a run, away from how they'd come in. "Brain, what's that sound?" Pinky ducked his head, burying it in the fabric of her dress as they were whisked along once again.

"I don't- Nyaaa..." Long, thorned branches reached out, the whispering voice calling out to the girl. "Why do all the odd things happen to us?" Brain lamented as Anya tripped and fell to the ground, dislodging the mice and sending them tumbling off to her side with Pooka.

They were on a bridge now, the entrance to the maze barricaded by the thorns and branches. There wasn't even any room for the two mice to wiggle through without risking damage. Anya stood up and brushed off her dress, not even looking at her new surroundings just yet. Rising shakily to his feet, Pinky stumbled over to Pooka. He patted his side reassuringly, but was knocked to the ground as the pup swung around to growl at a new presence.

* * *

skimmingsurfaces:

Dun dun DUN! Will anything ever go right for poor Brain? xDDD  
This plan was just not meant to be lol. But at least he got a date out of it!  
But now he's on a bridge! (I'm sensing a recurring theme here...) What will happen on this bridge in particular? All sorts of fun-fun silly-willy things!

Oh! And good news! The next chapter is the last chapter! Yay!

* * *

Mememe:

No. Nothing will ever go right for poor Brain

Except Pinky :D With all his fails, he is everything right!

All the bridges XD Except the sad bridges, which this one may turn out being~


End file.
